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Acute Effects of Physical Exercise in Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder

ConditionBorderline Personality Disorder
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18-50
SponsorUniversity Hospital, Bonn

About this trial

The aim of the proposed project is to investigate the effects of a single session of physical exercise on stress regulation, cognitive and emotional functioning, and associated neurophysiological processes (saliva and blood samples) in patients with borderline personality disorder. A further aim is to identify the optimal exercise intensity (moderate vs. high intensity). The investigatiors expect that acute exercise will lead to positive effects on behavioral and biomarker level.

Eligibility criteria

This trial accepts healthy volunteers

Qualifiers

estimated verbal intelligence quotient >80 (MWT-B; Lehrl 2005)

patients: diagnosis of borderline personality disorder according to DSM-5

Disqualifiers

neurological disorders

health conditions interfering with exercise safety, e.g. coronary heart disease

visual impairments that may interfere with performance of the cognitive tasks

endocrine disorders, e.g. hyperthyreosis or diabetes mellitus;

Trial design

Design model

Crossover

Treatments tested in this trial

  • Physical Exercise

    Behavioral

    30 min of cycling on an ergometer, moderate or high intensity

  • Control Intervention

    Behavioral

    30 min of watching a movie

Treatment groups

120 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groups
Group A: ExerciseExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: Control conditionActive comparator 1 intervention

Trial outcomes

Primary outcomes

1

change in cognitive interference

classical color-word Stroop task: reaction time difference between congruent and incongruent stimuli, difference between pre- and post-intervention is compared between exercise and control condition

Time frame
directly before and 10 minutes after exercise and control condition
2

change in subjective stress perception

Trier social stress test: subjective stress level (visual analogue scale rated from 0=noperceived stress to 9=highest perceived stress), changes between pre-stress and post-stress are compared between exercise and control condition

Time frame
stress test 90 minutes after exercise and control condition, subjective stress scale are collected before stress test and 0, 10, 20, and 30 minutes after stress test
3

change in cortisol levels

Trier social stress test: cortisol levels measured in saliva; changes between pre-stress and post-stress (cortisol peak expected at 20 minutes after stress test) are compared between exercise and control condition

Time frame
stress test 90 minutes after exercise and control condition, saliva samples are collected before stress test and 0, 10, 20, and 30 minutes after stress test

Secondary outcomes

1

change in emotional interference

emotional Stroop task: reaction time difference between neutral and emotional words, difference between pre- and post-intervention is compared between exercise and control condition

Time frame
directly before and 15 minutes after exercise and control condition
2

change in affect

Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS)

Time frame
directly before and 5 minutes after exercise and control condition, and before stress test and 0, 10, 20, and 30 minutes after stress test
3

change in alpha-amylase

measured in saliva; changes between pre-stress and post-stress are compared between exercise and control condition

Time frame
saliva samples are collected before stress test and 0, 10, 20, and 30 minutes after stress test
4

change in biomarkers

blood samples to measure: serotonin metabolism (e.g., tryptophan metabolism: tryptophan, kynurenine, and kynurenine acid), BDNF, Lactate, Noradrenaline

Time frame
directly before and 5 minutes after exercise and control condition

Other outcomes

Sponsors and contacts

Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.

University Hospital, Bonn

Lead sponsor

Source ClinicalTrials.gov
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