Assessment of physical activity in hemodialysis and factors associated with a sedentary lifestyle

Background A sedentary lifestyle is an important risk factor for mortality, especially cardiovascular mortality. This risk is increased in hemodialysis patients owing to the presence of other comorbidities. The aims of this study were to assess physical activity in hemodialysis patients and to figure out factors associated with sedentary lifestyle. Patients and methods This was a cross-sectional, descriptive, analytical study. It was conducted over a 2-month period. The study included patients who had been on regular hemodialysis for at least 6 months. Patients with physical disability were not included. Physical activity was assessed using an accelerometer. Results There were 30 included patients, of whom 22 were male and eight female. The mean age of the patients was 43.40 ± 15.14 years. The average number of steps per day was 7464.32 ± 4166.82 steps/day. The average number of steps per dialysis day was 6605.41 ± 4251.27 steps/day. According to the number of steps per day, 26.7% of patients were sedentary, 26.7% of patients were less active, and 46.6% were active. Factors associated with sedentary behavior were the sex (P=0.028), the age (P=0.001), and the day of dialysis (P=0.0001). Conclusion Sedentary lifestyle was frequent in our study. This high frequency is explained by several factors related to chronic kidney disease and hemodialysis itself.