AI RESEARCH
Age-Dependent Heterogeneity in the Association Between Physical Activity and Mental Distress: A Causal Machine Learning Analysis of 3.2 Million U.S. Adults
arXiv CS.LG
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ArXi:2604.19066v1 Announce Type: new Physical activity (PA) is widely recognized as protective against mental distress, yet whether this benefit varies systematically across population subgroups remains poorly understood. Using pooled data from ten consecutive annual waves of the U. S. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (2015-2024; n = 3,242,218), we investigate heterogeneity in the association between leisure-time PA and frequent mental distress (FMD, >=14 days/month) across age groups.