Effects of a telehealth-supported home-based exercise program on functional capacity, sarcopenia risk, and patient-reported outcomes in non-dialysis stage 4-5 chronic kidney disease.

Authors

Büşra Yıldırım Uz, Gökçe Yağmur Güneş Gencer, Feyza Bora

Published in

Journal of nephrology. Aug 31, 2026. Epub Aug 31, 2026.

Abstract

Evidence on the effects of 12-week telehealth-supported home-based exercise in advanced non-dialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains limited. This study evaluated its effects on functional capacity, sarcopenia risk, and patient-reported outcomes in patients with stage 4-5 CKD.
In this prospective, parallel-group randomized controlled trial (October 2024-July 2025), 54 non-dialysis patients aged ≥45 years with stage 4-5 CKD were randomized 1:1 to a 12-week telehealth-supported home-based exercise program plus usual nephrology care or usual care alone. Complete-case analyses included 51 participants (exercise group: n = 25 [stage 4, n = 21; stage 5, n = 4]; control group: n = 26 [stage 4, n = 20; stage 5, n = 6]). The primary outcome was change in 6-minute walk test distance. Secondary outcomes included physical performance, sarcopenia risk, fatigue, mood symptoms, sleep quality, and health-related quality of life.
Fifty-one participants completed the study (exercise group, n = 25; control group, n = 26). Compared with controls, the exercise group showed a greater improvement in 6-minute walk test distance (+29.41 ± 35.63 m vs -19.27 ± 33.62 m; P < .001), which remained significant after covariate adjustment. Significant improvements were also observed in sarcopenia risk, fatigue, mood symptoms, sleep quality, physical performance, and quality of life. Among intervention participants, 40% used the web-based platform and 60% received video-based support.
A 12-week telehealth-supported home-based exercise program significantly improved functional capacity and multiple patient-reported outcomes in patients with non-dialysis stage 4-5 CKD.

PMID:
42669568
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 31 Aug 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.