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Depressive SymptomsNCT07687940

Feasibility and Effects of a Blended Baduanjin Exercise and Green Tea Consumption Program on Depressive Symptoms, Gut Microbiota and Quality of Life in Older Adults

A study testing blended Baduanjin and Green Tea consumption program in people with Depressive Symptoms, run by Hong Kong Baptist University at 1 site in Hong Kong.

Recruiting

Looking for participants now. Contact the study team or a site below to ask about taking part.

Sites and contacts
Official record
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Trial summary

Depression is a common mental health issue in older adults, often manifesting as insomnia, low mood, vague somatic complaints, cognitive decline, and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide. Even subthreshold depressive symptoms in late life significantly impair quality of life. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 65 to 84 years
Conditions the study is for
Depressive Symptoms
What is being tested?
blended Baduanjin and Green Tea consumption program
Could I receive a placebo?
Yes, some participants may receive a placebo
How many people
48 participants
Where
1 siteHong Kong
Study dates
1 Nov 2025to 30 Apr 2027
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
Not yet: the study is under way

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 65 to 84 years
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • community-dwelling older adults aged 65 to 84 years, who are youngest-old and middle-old with relatively stable health status compared with oldest-old aged 85 years and above
  • Scoring 5-15 using the Chinese version of Geriatric Depression Scale.
  • Access the smartphone and internet through which the Hospital Authority (HA) HA Go mobile app.
  • Pass the PAR-Q screening and no contraindications for physical exercise.
  • No history of smoking.

Who cannot join

  • suffer from cognitive impairment identified by the Chinese version of the Mini-Mental Status Examination (i.e., score < 24).
  • regularly consume tea or coffee (≥3 times/day, last for ≥6 months) as these habitual behaviors can contaminate the effects of tea consumption intervention per se.
  • Individuals with contraindications for tea consumption, such as insomnia, anemia, neurasthenia, hyperthyroidism, digestive ulcers, etc.
  • The concurrent use of sedative and tranquilizer medications, such as benzodiazepines and barbiturates.
  • take warfarin;
  • Participants are attending other health projects related to physical exercise and diet.

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.

Yanping Duan contact

34115638

duanyp@hkbu.edu.hk

Yanping Duan contact

Hong Kong1 site, 1 recruiting

  • Bliss District Elderly Community Centre

    Kwun Tong

    LAM Hon Wai, 2717 0822, boplus@hkcs.org

    Recruiting

Other trials in Hong Kong

About this study

Official title: Feasibility and Effects of a Blended Baduanjin Exercise and Green Tea Consumption Program on Depressive Symptoms, Gut Microbiota and Quality of Life in Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Depression is a common mental health issue in older adults, often manifesting as insomnia, low mood, vague somatic complaints, cognitive decline, and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide. Even subthreshold depressive symptoms in late life significantly impair quality of life. In Hong Kong, recent data show high prevalence of depressive symptoms among community-dwelling older adults (43.7% in men, 54.8% in women), underscoring the urgent public health and economic need for effective interventions.

Although the previous evidence has shown that BDJ and GT consumption can improve depressive symptoms, gut microbiota, and QoL respectively, the feasibility and effect of the combination of two intervention approaches in older adults remain unclear. Therefore, the proposed study aims to (1) determine the feasibility of a 12-week blended BDJ and GT consumption program among Hong Kong community-dwelling older adults with depressive symptoms in a small-scale sample, and (2) examine the effects of the blended BDJ and GT consumption program on their depressive symptoms, gut-microbiota and QoL compared with that in the active control group.

Read the detailed description

This study will be a single-blind 2-group RCT to examine the feasibility and the effects (immediate effects and 3-month residual effects) of the 12-week blended BDJ and GT consumption program on depressive symptoms, gut-microbiota and QoL among older adults with depressive symptoms. The target population will be Hong Kong community-dwelling older adults with depressive symptoms. Participants will be randomly assigned into one of two groups: a blended BDJ and GT consumption group and a control group. Evaluation will be conducted at pre-intervention (T1), post-intervention (T2), and 3-month after intervention completion (T3). Outcome assessors will be blinded from the assignment results to the intervention.

Being tested
blended Baduanjin and Green Tea consumption program, Non-treatment control
Keywords
depressive symptoms, older adults, Baduanjin exercise, green tea
Medical subject headings
Depression

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • blended Baduanjin and Green Tea consumption programBehavioural

    The participants will be invited to attend both BDJ exercise and GT consumption interventions for 12 weeks. The exercise instructor will provide group teaching with individual instructions on specific movements. Participants will also adopt a dose of 3g tea with 200ml water, 2 cups daily. The tea consumption will last 12 weeks in this project to keep the same intervention duration as BDJ group.

  • Non-treatment controlBehavioural

    Participants will receive biweekly telephone calls within 12 weeks.Each call will last about 5 minutes.The participants will be asked several questions about their physical exercise and tea consumption behaviors.

Study groups in NCT07687940
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
blended Baduanjin and Green Tea consumption programExperimentalParticipants, will receive the 12-week blended Baduanjin (60 mins/session) and Green Tea consumption (2 cups per day for 5 weeks) program
Receives: Behavioral: blended Baduanjin and Green Tea consumption program
Non-treatment controlPlacebo comparatorParticipants will receive biweekly telephone calls within 12 weeks.Each call will last about 5 minutes.
Receives: Behavioral: Non-treatment control

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Self-reported depressive symptoms

    The Chinese version of the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-C) will be used to measure the subjective depression level. The GDS are the most widely used scales for the detection of depression symptoms in older adults (Cronbach's α = .81 -.83).

    Measured: Outcome evaluations will be performed three times at pre-intervention (T1 baseline), after 12-weeks intervention (T2 post-intervention), and 3 months after intervention completion (T3 follow-up test).

Secondary outcomes (2)

  1. Gut-microbiota

    Total genomic DNA will be extracted from stool samples using NEBnext microbiome DNA enrichment kit (New England Biolabs, Ipswich, MA, US) following the manufacturer's instructions. Gut microbiome will be an be analysed by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing for the V3-V4 region (OmicLab Limited, Hong Kong). The amplified products will be sequenced on the Illumina NovaSeq platform and analysed using QIIME1 software. Several microbiome compositional and functional indicators will be measured, e.g., total gene counts, relative abundance of predominant bacterial groups, alpha and beta diversity, and functional annotations of the gut microbiota (Hu et al., 2023; Wang et al., 2023). DNA extraction, 16S rRNA sequencing and analyses will be performed by OmicLab Limited, Hong Kong.

    Measured: Evaluations of stool test will be performed three times at pre-intervention (T1), the 12-week (3-month) post-intervention (T2), and the 3-month follow-up (T3) occasions.

  2. Perceived quality of life

    The quality of life will be assessed using the brief version of the Hong Kong Chinese WHO Quality of Life Scale (WHOQOL-BREF) (Cronbach's α = .73 - .84). The scale includes 28 items, covering four dimensions of how older adults perceive their quality of life. The total score of the questionnaire ranges from 28 to 140, and a higher score indicates that the individual feels they have a high quality of life.

    Measured: Outcome evaluations will be performed three times at pre-intervention (T1 baseline), after 12-week intervention (T2 post-test), and 3 months after intervention completion (T3 follow-up test)

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted7 Jul 2026
  2. Study start1 Nov 2025
  3. Primary completion28 Nov 2026 (estimated)
  4. Study completion30 Apr 2027 (estimated)

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Model description
It's a single-blinded randomized controlled trial study. A total of 48 community-dwelling older adults (aged 65-84 years) with depressive symptoms will be randomly assigned to a blended intervention group or an active control group. The blended intervention group will receive a 12-week program, including Baduanjin exercise (2 sessions/week, 60 min/session) and green tea consumption (3g tea bag with 2cups daily). The active control group will receive biweekly telephone calls in 12 weeks to answer questions about their physical exercise and tea consumption behaviors.
Masking
Single blind
Who is masked
Outcomes assessor
Enrolment
48 participants (estimated)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT07687940
Sponsor's protocol ID
RC- FNRA-IG /24-25/RC- FNRA-IG
Status last verified
Jun 2026
First submitted
30 Jun 2026
Last updated
7 Jul 2026
Results posted
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
No

Publications

  • Zhao CN, Tang GY, Cao SY, Xu XY, Gan RY, Liu Q, Mao QQ, Shang A, Li HB. Phenolic Profiles and Antioxidant Activities of 30 Tea Infusions from Green, Black, Oolong, White, Yellow and Dark Teas. Antioxidants (Basel). 2019 Jul 10;8(7):215. doi: 10.3390/antiox8070215.

    PubMed 31295859

  • Wan Z, Qin X, Tian Y, Ouyang F, Wang G, Wan Q. Long-Term Consumption of Green Tea Can Reduce the Degree of Depression in Postmenopausal Women by Increasing Estradiol. Nutrients. 2023 Oct 25;15(21):4514. doi: 10.3390/nu15214514.

    PubMed 37960167

  • Souza PB, de Araujo Borba L, Castro de Jesus L, Valverde AP, Gil-Mohapel J, Rodrigues ALS. Major Depressive Disorder and Gut Microbiota: Role of Physical Exercise. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Nov 28;24(23):16870. doi: 10.3390/ijms242316870.

    PubMed 38069198

  • Pan CW, Ma Q, Sun HP, Xu Y, Luo N, Wang P. Tea Consumption and Health-Related Quality of Life in Older Adults. J Nutr Health Aging. 2017;21(5):480-486. doi: 10.1007/s12603-016-0784-0.

    PubMed 28448076

  • Luo X, Zhao M, Zhang Y, Zhang Y. Effects of baduanjin exercise on blood glucose, depression and anxiety among patients with type II diabetes and emotional disorders: A meta-analysis. Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2023 Feb;50:101702. doi: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2022.101702. Epub 2022 Nov 8.

    PubMed 36423358

  • Leung, K., Tay, M., Cheng, S., & Lin, F. (1997). Hong Kong Chinese version World Health Organization Quality of Life Measure-Abbreviated Version WHOQoL-BREF (HK). Hong Kong: Hong Kong Hospital Authority.

  • Kelly JR, Borre Y, O' Brien C, Patterson E, El Aidy S, Deane J, Kennedy PJ, Beers S, Scott K, Moloney G, Hoban AE, Scott L, Fitzgerald P, Ross P, Stanton C, Clarke G, Cryan JF, Dinan TG. Transferring the blues: Depression-associated gut microbiota induces neurobehavioural changes in the rat. J Psychiatr Res. 2016 Nov;82:109-18. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2016.07.019. Epub 2016 Jul 25.

    PubMed 27491067

  • Jin Y, Sun HL, Lam SC, Su Z, Hall BJ, Cheung T, Qin MZ, Ng CH, Xiang YT; International Research Collaboration on COVID-19. Depressive symptoms and gender differences in older adults in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 pandemic: a network analysis approach. Int J Biol Sci. 2022 Jun 6;18(10):3934-3941. doi: 10.7150/ijbs.69460. eCollection 2022.

    PubMed 35844786

  • Jin X, Yang S, Lu J, Li Y, Zhao Y, Li D, Wang X, Liu L, Wu M. Exploring the therapeutic mechanism of Baduanjin in the treatment of elderly stable angina pectoris based on the gut microbiota-lipid metabolism spectrum: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Front Public Health. 2022 Oct 31;10:1027839. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1027839. eCollection 2022.

    PubMed 36388277

  • Jia W, Tang Q, Zou Y, Yang Y, Wu W, Xu W. Investigating the antidepressant effect of Ziyan green tea on chronic unpredictable mild stress mice through fecal metabolomics. Front Microbiol. 2023 Aug 24;14:1256142. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1256142. eCollection 2023.

    PubMed 37692389

  • Huang Y, Li L, Gan Y, Wang C, Jiang H, Cao S, Lu Z. Sedentary behaviors and risk of depression: a meta-analysis of prospective studies. Transl Psychiatry. 2020 Jan 22;10(1):26. doi: 10.1038/s41398-020-0715-z.

    PubMed 32066686

  • Hu L, Ni Z, Zhao K, Li X, Gao X, Kang Y, Yu Z, Qin Y, Zhao J, Peng W, Lu L, Sun H. The association between oral and gut microbiota in male patients with alcohol dependence. Front Microbiol. 2023 Jul 28;14:1203678. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1203678. eCollection 2023.

    PubMed 37577447

  • Lopez-Torres Hidalgo J; DEP-EXERCISE Group. Effectiveness of physical exercise in the treatment of depression in older adults as an alternative to antidepressant drugs in primary care. BMC Psychiatry. 2019 Jan 14;19(1):21. doi: 10.1186/s12888-018-1982-6.

    PubMed 30642326

  • Dou, W., Su, S., Zhao, Y., Guo, X., Zhang, Z., Yao, J., & Wang, S. (2020). Effect of Baduanjin on the balancing ability and intestinal flora for older adults. China Preventive Medicine Journal, 32(4), 425-428.

  • Cheung DST, Chau PH, Lam TC, Ng AYM, Kwok TWH, Takemura N, Woo J, Yu DS, Lin CC. A pilot randomized controlled trial using Baduanjin qigong to reverse frailty status among post-treatment older cancer survivors. J Geriatr Oncol. 2022 Jun;13(5):682-690. doi: 10.1016/j.jgo.2022.02.014. Epub 2022 Mar 7.

    PubMed 35272982

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing blended Baduanjin and Green Tea consumption program in people with Depressive Symptoms, run by Hong Kong Baptist University at 1 site in Hong Kong.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 5 inclusion and 6 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 7 Jul 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in Hong Kong. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. Some participants in this study may receive a placebo. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

Contact Yanping Duan (34115638, duanyp@hkbu.edu.hk), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Self-reported depressive symptoms (time frame: Outcome evaluations will be performed three times at pre-intervention (T1 baseline), after 12-weeks intervention (T2 post-intervention), and 3 months after intervention completion (T3 follow-up test).). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT07687940, which also lists 17 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 7 Jul 2026.

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