(RxWiki News) A home-based walking program could benefit patients on dialysis both physically and mentally, a new study found.
This study, conducted by Italian researchers, randomized 269 patients on dialysis to engage in normal daily physical activity or a walking program, which increased its intensity over six months but started with 20 minutes of walking every other day.
After six months, the walking group saw improvement in various measures of physical function while the other patients saw no significant improvement. The same was true for the walking patients' quality of life and cognitive function scores.
"Poor physical functioning is perhaps the most pervasive and disabling disturbance in patients with advanced kidney disease who are on chronic dialysis," said Dr. Carmine Zoccali, of Clinical Epidemiology and Physiopathology of Renal Diseases and Hypertension, in a press release. "... Our study shows that simple, home-based exercise programs hold potential for improving physical functioning in dialysis patients."
This study was published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
Information on funding sources was not available at the time of publication. The study authors disclosed no potential conflicts of interest.
