Long Term Physical Activity for Hemodialysis Patients

Patients on chronic hemodialysis present severe physical dysfunctioning associated with a significant reduction of their muscle mass. These two parameters are associated with increased morbidity and mortality along with deconditioning and poor quality of life. There are several studies- usually short term, single center uncontrolled and underpowered- that have shown a significant improvement of the physical, metabolic and dialytic parameters. There are only few studies that have measured the impact of a long term intradialytic exercise intervention on a supervised manner. This is a multi-center controlled study examining the effects of intradialytic cycling on parameters of physical functioning, body composition, cardiovascular and nutritional status, immunological status and quality of life in a group of clinically stable hemodialysis patients