Effects of Exercise Training on Delaying Disease Progression in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease: a Review of the Literature

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is an important public health problem throughout the world. The effects of exercise training are unclear in patients with CKD. This review aimed to evaluate the effects of exercise training to delay the progression of CKD and which training style is most effective. We developed individualized search strategies for the National Library of Medicine including the PubMed MeSH database to June 2015. We searched articles related to exercise training and kidney disease using the terms “CKD”, “renal disease”, “renal insufficiency”, “renal failure”, “end-stage renal disease (ESRD)” and “physical therapy”. We searched only for reports in English and for full free papers. We also chose papers based on the references in the papers obtained by the search. Our search identified 6 different trials including 131 participants. Our review of these 6 studies suggests that aerobic exercise training may improve exercise capacity, and resistance training may also improve muscle function in patients with CKD. No cardiac events were reported in any of the published exercise training studies reviewed, suggesting the safety of exercise in patients with CKD.