Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a public health problem. Although physical activity is essential for the prevention and treatment of most chronic diseases, exercise is rarely prescribed for CKD patients. The objective of the study was to search for and appraise evidence on the effectiveness of exercise interventions on health endpoints in CKD patients. A systematic review was performed of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) designed to compare exercise with usual care regarding effects on the health of CKD patients. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central, Clinical Trials registry, and proceedings of major nephrology conference databases were searched, using terms defined according to the PICO (Patient, Intervention, Comparison and Outcome) methodology. RCTs were independently evaluated by two reviewers. A total of 5489 studies were assessed for eligibility, of which 59 fulfilled inclusion criteria. Most of them included small samples, lasted from 8 to 24 weeks and applied aerobic exercises. Three studies included only kidney transplant patients, and nine included pre-dialysis patients. The remaining RCTs allocated hemodialysis patients. The outcome measures included quality of life, physical fitness, muscular strength, heart rate variability, inflammatory and nutritional markers and progression of CKD. Most of the trials had high risk of bias. The strongest evidence is for the effects of aerobic exercise on improving physical fitness, muscular strength and quality of life in dialysis patients. The benefits of exercise in dialysis patients are well established, supporting the prescription of physical activity in their regular treatment. RCTs including patients in earlier stages of CKD and after kidney transplantation are urgently required, as well as studies assessing long-term outcomes. The best exercise protocol for CKD patients also remains to be established.

The best approach to prevent CVC-related infection would be to avoid the use of CVC. However, in patients for whom it is impossible, the adoption of adequate prophylaxis protocols, early diagnosis and effective treatment of infectious complications are essential to improve outcomes.

Although the best protocol of exercise for patients on dialysis is not yet clear, in our sample of haemodialysis patients the combination of aerobic and resistance training was more effective than resistance training alone to improve functional performance.

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Quality of life (QoL) is considered important as an outcome measurement, especially for long-term diseases such as chronic renal failure. The present study searched for predictors of QoL in a sample of patients undergoing dialysis in southern Brazil. DESIGN AND SETTING:This was a cross-sectional study developed in three southern Brazilian dialysis facilities.METHODS: Health-related QoL of patients on hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis was measured using the generic Short Form-36 (SF-36) health survey questionnaire. The results were correlated with sociodemographic, clinical and laboratory variables. The analysis was adjusted through multiple linear regression. RESULTS:A total of 140 patients were assessed: 94 on hemodialysis and 46 on peritoneal dialysis. The mean age was 54.2 ± 15.4 years, 48% were men and 76% were white. The predictors of higher (better) physical component summary in SF-36 were: younger age (β -0.16; 95% confi dence interval, CI: -0.27 to -0.05), shorter time on dialysis (β -0.06; 95% CI: -0.09 to -0.02) and lower Khan comorbidity-age index (β 5.16; 95% CI: 1.7-8.6). The predictors of higher mental component summary were: being employed (β 8.4; 95% CI: 1.7-15.1), being married or having a marriage-like relationship (β 4.56; 95% CI: 0.9-8.2), being on peritoneal dialysis (β 4.9; 95% CI: 0.9-8.8) and not having high blood pressure (β 3.9; 95% CI: 0.3-7.6).CONCLUSIONS: Age, comorbidity and length of time on dialysis were the main predictors of physical QoL, whereas socioeconomic issues especially determined mental QoL.

Among the studied variables, comorbidity and graft function were the main factors associated with the PCSc, and sociodemographic variables and graft function were the main determinants of MCSc. Despite comprehensive, the final regression models explained only a little part of the heath-related quality of life variance. Additional factors, such as personal, environmental and clinical ones might influence quality of life perceived by the patients after kidney transplantation.

The participation of the kidney transplant recipients with functioning graft into the work force in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul is low, being predicted mainly by sociodemographic factors. It was not detected any influence of patient perception of his/her physical conditions or other clinical variables, except for the presence of diabetes.

Previous studies have suggested that exercise during hemodialysis (HD) could increase the efficacy of solute removal, although this hypothesis has not been conclusively evaluated. The goal of this study was to compare the removal of low-molecular weight solutes between HD sessions, with and without aerobic exercise. It was a controlled clinical trial, including HD patients in a randomly cross-over design, such that each patient received a HD session with exercise (intervention) and the next one without exercise (control), three times each. In the exercise sessions, patients pedaled on a cycle ergometer for 60 minutes. The total mass of removed urea, potassium, creatinine, and phosphate were calculated from the solutes concentration in dialysate (continuous spent sampling of dialysate). This was evaluated in a total of 132 HD sessions of patients with a mean age of 54 ± 15 years, 75% male and HD vintage of 3 (2-13) years. Phosphate removal in dialysate during intervention sessions was significantly higher (5.6 [2.5-18.9] vs. 5.1 [1.5-11.2] mg/min) than during control sessions, P = 0.04. The median mass of phosphate removed during control HD session was 1226 (367.8-2697.2) vs. 1348.6 (613.0-4536.2) mg/session during intervention sessions. The exercise did not modify the removal of urea (control 122.6 [61.3-286.0] vs. exercise 112.4 [51.1-250.3] mg/min, P = 0.44), creatinine (control 5.6 [2.5-13.8] vs. exercise 5.6 [2.5-12.8] mg/min, P = 0.49), or potassium (control 13.3 [11.2-15.8] vs. exercise 13.8 [6.6-15.8] mEq/min, P = 0.49). Aerobic exercise during HD increases the efficacy of phosphate removal, without changing urea, creatinine and potassium removal. The implications of this finding in mineral and bone disease and cardiovascular disease need to be evaluated on future clinical trials.

Hypertension and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are global public health problems, both associated with higher risk of cardiovascular (CV) and renal events. This trial randomized non-diabetic adult patients with hypertension and CKD stages 2-4 to 16 weeks of aerobic and resistance training or usual care. The primary outcome was the change in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Secondary outcomes included changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), body weight, fasting blood glucose, lipid profile, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and functional capacity. The analysis was performed by intention-to-treat, using linear mixed-effects models for repeated measures over time. A hundred fifty patients were included in the intervention (76) or control (74) groups. No difference was found in eGFR, BP, body weight, or lipid profile changes between the groups. However, there were significant decreases in hs-CRP [-6.7(-11.7 to -1.8) mg/L] and fasting blood glucose [-11.3(-20.0 to -1.8) mg/dL], and an increase in functional capacity [2' Step Test 33.9 (17.7-50.0); 30″ Stand Test 2.3 (0.9-3.7)] in exercise group compared with control group. The results of this RCT show that combined aerobic and resistance training could reduce inflammation and insulin resistance in hypertensive patients with earlier stages of CKD, without a significant effect on kidney disease progression. Clinical trials.gov NCT01155128.