Association between physical activity and quality of life in hemodialysis patients

Abstract

Introduction: Several studies have demonstrated the relationship between the practice of physical exercising (PE) and improvement in the quality of life (QOL) of the general population. Many factors contribute to the worsening of QOL patient hemodialysis (HD) and often these individuals show lower disposition for PE. Our goal was to investigate the association of PE with QOL in HD’patients. Methods: a cross-sectional study in 115 patients on hemodialysis in Hospital das Clínicas Samuel Libânio – Pouso Alegre, MG, divided into 2 groups: GS: sedentary patients; GA: patients doing regular physical exercise. To measure the QOL the form SF – 36 was used. Clinical, socioeconomic, and laboratory data have been collected. For the analysis of the results, analytical and descriptive statistics were used. The significance was ascribed to p values < 0.05. Results: there were no differences regarding age (GS: 53.3 ± 13.0; GA: 53.8 ± 13.8); ethnicity (56% caucasian in GS and 60% in GA); blood hemoglobin (GS: 10.3 ± 1.7; GA: 10.7 ± 1.9); body mass index (GS: 23.6 ± 4.3; GA: 24.1 ± 3.8). Analysis of SF-36 results revealed a significant improvement regarding functional capacity (GS: 53.0 ± 27.5 and GA: 72.4 ± 20.9; p=0.0001); physical aspects (GS:43.1 ± 41.9 e GA: 56.4 ± 33.9; p = 0.05); body pain (GS: 60.1 ± 27.9 and GA: 70.4 ± 22.8; p = 0.03); vitality (GS: 53.3 ± 25.1 and GA: 66.1 ± 21.2; p = 0.05) and mental health (GS: 65.0 ± 26.7 and GA: 76.2 ± 19.2; p = 0.006). Conclusion: We observed a direct relationship of physical exercising with quality of life, but were unable to establish a relationship of cause and effect with this study