Physical exercise for late-life depression: Effects on symptom dimensions and time course.

•It is still unknown which depressive symptoms are most affected by physical exercise.•121 older depressed patients were treated with antidepressant with/without exercise.•Adjunctive exercise increased effects on affective symptoms, not somatic.•Improvements were driven by changes of depressed mood and psychomotor retardation.•Advantages were evident both at early and later stages of treatment.