Impact of aerobic exercise on cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia during daily care: A meta-analysis

•AE (Aerobic exercise) exerted a positive effect on certain specific domains of cognitive function.•The effect of AE training on global cognition may be maintained over the long-term.•It is also necessary to provide professional exercise guidance for schizophrenia patients. To assess the effect of aerobic exercise (AZ) on global cognition and different cognition domains in patients with schizophrenia (SZ) in daily care. Selection of the literature was done through the Pubmed, Web of Science, Embase and Cochrane Library databases. Standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the effect of AZ on cognition of SZ patients. All assessment indicators were subjected to sensitivity analysis to test the stability of the result. Subgroup analysis was conducted on study type, follow-up time, supervisor and control method. Totally, 23 articles enrolling 1014 participants were included. The global cognition of SZ patients was improved after 6 months of follow-up. AE guided by an occupational therapist improved the global cognition of SZ patients. AE was associated with improved verbal learning and memory, reasoning and problem solving (SMD: 0.375, 95%CI: 0.009 to 0.741, P = 0.045). However, effects on speed of processing, attention/vigilance, work memory, visual learning and memory, social cognition were not significant. The effect of AE training on global cognition may be maintained over the long-term, and be domain specific. Patients with SZ can do AE guided by professional occupational therapist in their daily lives settings.