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Abstract: SA-OR76

Intradialytic Cycling Exercise Improves Arterial Stiffness in Hemodialysis Patients

Session Information

Category: Health Maintenance, Nutrition, and Metabolism

  • 1500 Health Maintenance, Nutrition, and Metabolism

Authors

  • Chang, Ho-Hsiang, Division of Nephrology, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan
  • Lai, Yu-Hsien, Division of Nephrology, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan
  • Hsu, Bang-Gee, Division of Nephrology, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan
Background

Cardiovascular diseases are the main causes of death and morbidity in hemodialysis patients. Arterial stiffness is an essential predictor of cardiovascular mortality. Exercise has been shown to contribute vascular and physical benefits in healthy populations. Physical function would affect the quality of life in hemodialysis patients. Intradialytic cycling exercises provide regular exercise with good supervision. We conducted this randomized controlled project to examine the vascular and physical effects of intradialytic exercise in hemodialysis patients.

Methods

One hundred and fourteen hemodialysis patients were randomly assigned to either intradialytic cycling exercise group (EX) or to a regular care group (RC) for 12 months. We compared the effect of intradialytic cycling on arterial function (carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, cfPWV) as primary endpoint and physical performance (gait speed and 5 times sit to stand) as secondary evaluations in these participants.

Results

Among 114 participants, 89 and 82 patients completed the tests at 6 and 12 months, respectively. We observed a significantly decrease in cfPWV in the EX group compared to the RC group (95% confidence interval (CI): (-5.71, -2.90), p <0.001). With further evaluation with GEE analysis, there was a significant difference on group-by-time interaction of cfPWV (p <0.001 both after 6 and 12 months). In the secondary outcomes, we observed a significantly faster gait speed in the EX group compared with RC group (95% confidence interval (CI): (0.03, 0.30), p =0.019). However, the difference in group-by-time interaction of gait speed between the two groups was not observed during further evaluation with GEE analysis (p =0.134 and 0.435, after 6 and 12 months, respectively). There were no significant differences in blood pressure, pulse rate, 5 times sit-to-stand test and body compositions between the two groups throughout the trial.

Conclusion

Our investigation demonstrated that cfPWV improved after intradialytic cycling exercise with significant benefit. In addition, profound benefit was revealed with a longer duration of exercise. Physical performance as gait speed also showed improvement in the exercise group. Therefore, intradialytic cycling is an effective exercise to achieve arterial health and physical performance in the hemodialysis population.