Physical activity level of patients on hemodialysis: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT The level of physical activity of patients under hemodialysis treatment was assessed, noting its relation with sociodemographic and laboratory variables. A cross-sectional study comprised of 108 individuals with chronic kidney disease under hemodialysis divided into "active" and "sedentary" groups was conducted. Socioeconomic data (semi-structured questionnaire), characteristics of kidney disease, level of physical activity (International Physical Activity Questionnaire - IPAQ) and laboratory data (hematocrit, hemoglobin, creatinine, albumin, urea) of past examinations taken from medical records were assessed. 8% of the patients in the sample were identified as sedentary and 70.4% did not receive guidance for performing physical activity (p=0.013). Correlations between the level of physical activity and socioeconomic, clinical data and biochemical parameters were not observed. It was concluded that individuals with chronic renal disease under hemodialysis therapy have low level of physical activity. This finding is related to the frequency of guidance in that regard for the population on dialysis, not being related to the demographic, clinical and biochemical data evaluated.