Intradialytic resistance training for short daily hemodialysis patients as part of the clinical routine: a quasi-experimental study.

Background and purpose: Hemodialysis patients have chronic systemic inflammation, musculoskeletal impairments, and body composition changes from several factors and exercise may attenuate. We evaluated the effects of an intradialytic resistance training program on body composition, physical function, and inflammatory markers in patients under short daily hemodialysis treatment. Materials and methods: A quasi-experimental study in clinical routine was conducted over eight months. Measures of physical function (handgrip strength, five-time sit-to-stand, timed-up and go, and gait speed), body composition (by bioelectrical impedance), and inflammatory markers (interleukin [IL]-1 beta, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12p70, and tumor necrosis factor-α) were assessed at baseline as well as at four and eight months past continued intervention. Patients underwent two intradialytic resistance training sessions per week supervised by exercise professionals. Results: A total of 18 patients (62 ± 14 years; 55.6% ≥ 60 years; 44% female) were included. Significant increases in body mass index and basal metabolic rate were found at four and eight months compared to baseline. For physical function, timed-up and go performance improved at four and eight months compared to baseline. The other body composition and physical function measures, as well as all inflammatory markers, did not significantly change over time. Conclusion: A supervised intradialytic resistance training program for patients on short daily hemodialysis treatment, as part of the clinical routine, may induce modest changes in body mass index, basal metabolic rate, and timed-up and go performance.

Implementing a resistance training programme for patients on short daily haemodialysis: A feasibility study.

BACKGROUND: Kidney failure patients receiving haemodialysis experience protein-energy wasting, muscle mass loss and physical function impairment. Intradialytic exercise interventions seem to modify these features, but they are often not implemented as a clinical routine. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the feasibility of implementing a supervised intradialytic resistance training programme as a clinical routine for patients receiving short daily haemodialysis. DESIGN: A prospective longitudinal study. PARTICIPANTS: Eighteen patients in a supervised intradialytic resistance training programme for 8 months. MEASUREMENTS: It consisted of a warm-up, lower- and upper-limb resistance exercises and a cool-down. Patients performed the resistance training during the first half of haemodialysis, twice a week, supervised by exercise physiologists and physiotherapists. The feasibility was assessed by the total and partial adherences, the reasons for refusing or for not exercising and the intradialytic complications. RESULTS: From a total of 953 potential exercise sessions, 759 were performed, with a 79.6% adherence rate. In the first 9 weeks, the adherence rate was 86.6% and the lowest rate was in the 19-27 weeks (73.5%). The main intradialytic complication during exercise sessions was hypotension (n = 31; 4.1%). The highest number of complications was reported during the first 9 weeks (n = 27; 9.1%). The main reasons for refusing or for not performing the intradialytic exercise sessions were clinical complications previous to exercise time (n = 63; 32.5%) and self-reported indisposition (n = 62; 32.0%). CONCLUSIONS: The intradialytic resistance training programme, supervised by exercise physiologists and physiotherapists, had very low complications, achieved a high long-term adherence rate and showed to be feasible as a clinical routine for patients receiving short daily haemodialysis.

Physical activity is associated with nutritional biomarkers in hemodialysis patients: A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between physical activity levels and nutritional biomarkers in hemodialysis patients. METHODS: Eighty-six patients responded to the short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire to estimate the metabolic equivalent of tasks (MET) per week. A MET-min per week <600 was considered as sedentary. The nutritional biomarkers (i.e., albumin, globulin, and albumin/globulin ratio) were collected. RESULTS: Sixty-five patients (75.6%) were sedentary. Binary logistic regression showed that patients with low albumin levels had an 89% lower chance to be physically active (p = 0.037), but it was not significant in the adjusted analysis (p = 0.052). Albumin and albumin/globulin ratio levels were correlated with MET-min per week (r = 0.34 and 0.30; both p < 0.05). Additionally, lower median albumin and albumin/globulin ratio levels were found in the sedentary patients (p = 0.021 and p = 0.031), respectively. CONCLUSION: The physical activity levels were associated with albumin and albumin/globulin ratio, surrogates of nutritional status in hemodialysis patients. These nutritional biomarkers were lower in sedentary patients.

Intradialytic isometric handgrip exercise does not cause hemodynamic instability: A randomized, cross-over, pilot study.

Hemodialysis (HD) patients experience hemodynamic instability and intradialytic exercise seems to attenuate it. This study aimed to verify the acute hemodynamic response to different intradialytic handgrip exercise intensities in HD patients. In a randomized, cross-over, experimental pilot study, eight patients completed two experimental sessions and one control in random order: (a) regular HD; (b) low-intensity isometric handgrip exercise; and (c) moderate-intensity isometric handgrip exercise. BP and heart rate variability were recorded immediately before and every 15 minutes. Isometric handgrip exercise protocols, regardless of the intensity, did not lead to significant changes in hemodynamic stability, nor when compared to the control condition (P > .05). The systolic BP and double product significantly increased immediately after the moderate-intensity protocol (122.0 ± 15.9 vs 131.3 ± 19.8, P < .05; 9094.7 ± 1705.7 vs 9783.0 ± 1947.9, P < .05, respectively) but returned to the pre-exercise values 10 minutes later. We conclude that intradialytic isometric handgrip exercise does not induce hemodynamic instability at low and moderate intensities.