A review of the role of exercise and factors affecting its uptake for people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) not requiring renal replacement therapy.
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a long-term progressive condition affecting 10-15% of people. The overlap of diabetes, hypertension and CKD in an aging population means that prevalence will only increase. CKD increases the risk of all-cause mortality, secondary to the elevated cardiovascular risk. It also significantly affects the patients' ability to engage in functional activities and their quality of life. The evidence base suggests that exercise has the capacity to improve symptom burden, functional ability and mental health. The majority of the patient population are pre-dialysis yet previous research has concentrated on dialysing patients. This review will focus on the patient group not requiring renal replacement therapy (non-RRT) as this is an area where further work is urgently needed. A large majority of people with CKD tend to be inactive despite emerging guidelines emphasising the positive effect of exercise for both people with chronic disease and healthy populations. This paper will review the evidence to support exercise to improve outcomes and quality of life and report on common barriers that patients experience and advocate the need for supported exercise interventions to help patients become more active and gain the potential resultant health benefits.