Chronic kidney disease is often associated with other health problems, like diabetes, obesity and heart disease. Those with chronic kidney disease often die prematurely, although not necessarily from a kidney problem. It’s therefore of interest to look at whether a healthy lifestyle might help those with chronic kidney disease by improving their other health problems.
Researchers at Salt Lake City Veterans Affairs Healthcare System have been looking at the impact of exercise on survival of those with chronic kidney disease. They looked at over 15,000 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III, which is a health survey of the US population. They found that 6% had chronic kidney disease. The team asked the chronic kidney disease patients about their level of physical activity dividing them into categories of inactive, insufficiently active, and active.
The researchers learned that 28% of chronic kidney disease patients were inactive which is compared to 13.5% in populations who do not have chronic kidney disease. The active and insufficiently active patients with chronic kidney disease were 56% and 42% less likely to die during the study time than those who were inactive. This is similar to the benefits of exercise noted in those who do not have chronic kidney disease. Therefore, those with chronic kidney disease ought to be encouraged to keep on with, or take up, exercise because this study suggests that it has a real survival benefit.
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