Prehabilitation for kidney transplant candidates: Is it time?

Abstract

Many patients become frail with diminished cardiorespiratory fitness while awaiting kidney transplantation. Frailty and poor fitness powerfully predict mortality, transplant graft survival, and healthcare utilization after kidney transplantation. Efforts to intervene with post-transplant physical therapy have been met with limited success, in large part due to high study dropout. We reviewed the literature on chronic kidney disease and exercise to propose a clinical framework for physical therapy interventions to improve fitness, scheduled for before the transplant. This framework may lead to better patient retention and compliance, and thus demonstrate better efficacy in mitigating the effects of frailty and poor fitness after kidney transplantation.

Keywords: elderly; end-stage renal disease; exercise; fitness; frailty; kidney transplant; physical therapy; transplant outcomes.