The Effect of Home-Based Walking on Symptoms and Health Profile of Hemodialysis Patients

November 26, 2025 updated by: Figen Akay

The Effect of Home-Based Walking on Symptoms and Health Profile of Hemodialysis Patients:Randomized Controlled Trial

This study aims to evaluate the effect of 8 weeks of home-based moderate-speed walking on hemodialysis symptoms and health profile while patients are receiving hemodialysis treatment.

Due to permanent deterioration in kidney function, patients need hemodialysis treatment, which is the most commonly used treatment method among renal replacement therapies. Hemodialysis treatment causes a series of physical and psychological problems. Problems such as hypotension, headache, nausea, muscle cramps, itching and pain are physical problems, while depression, anxiety, cognitive disorders and stress are psychological problems. In addition, it has been reported that long-term hemodialysis treatment and all the resulting problems increase the tendency to a sedentary lifestyle in this patient group, leading to a decrease in physical function and activity, and indirectly to a low quality of life and low survival rates. For this reason, hemodialysis patients have difficulty meeting their daily activities and needs, and their dependency and healthcare burden increase. Adopting a sedentary lifestyle by these patients prevents them from managing both the physical and psychological problems of hemodialysis and their conditions such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus, and causes the disease to progress. Physical exercises, which are considered among the useful therapeutic suggestions in addition to pharmacological treatments in the management of the negative situations that arise, are considered as an easy, useful and effective intervention method. Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) recommends 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical exercise at least 5 days a week. Additionally, it should not be overlooked that whether patients have places to do physical activity and what their facilities are are a detail that should be questioned by health professionals. Patients without suitable accommodations should be encouraged to engage in physical activity, especially in indoor spaces like home. Home-based walking exercise is known to be easy, inexpensive, and safe, and is also advantageous when the weather is not favorable. When we examined the studies in which home-based walking exercise was performed, it was determined that its effect on functional capacity was generally investigated, but its effect on the health outcomes and symptoms of patients receiving hemodialysis treatment was not evaluated. There was no evidence that home-based walking exercise had any effect on symptoms in patients receiving HD treatment. Therefore, it was planned to conduct a study to evaluate whether home-based walking exercise has an effect on patient health outcomes.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

24

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients who agreed to participate in the research during the data collection process,
  • Over 18 years of age,
  • Speak and understand Turkish,
  • Are at least literate,
  • Can perform daily living activities independently,
  • Own a smartphone.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Do not have sufficient cognitive ability,
  • Have arthritic or orthopedic problems requiring assistance with walking,
  • Have significant visual or hearing impairments,
  • Walk regularly,
  • Have a hemoglobin level <8 mg/dl,
  • Have Stage IV of New York heart failure.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Group A (Home-based walking)
Home-based walking
Other: Group A (Home-based walking)
Verbal and written consent was obtained from patients who met the sampling criteria. At the first meeting, the Dialysis Symptom Index and Nottingham Health Profile will be assessed. Information was given about the pedometer tracking form and things to consider for walking exercises at home. Patients were asked to choose comfortable, lightweight athletic shoes that would hug their feet. The patient will be asked to walk on flat ground at home and wear cotton, non-sweaty clothes. It is necessary to walk forward at a moderate intensity 5 days a week. It will be explained that 6,000 steps should be taken in the first week and increased by 10% the following week. During the hemodialysis session, the tracking form will be checked with the pedometer application on the patient's smartphone. This group of patients will be asked to answer again in the 1st and 2nd months to see the change in the Dialysis Symptom Index and Nottingham Health Profile.
Experimental: Group B (Usual hemodialysis care )
Usual hemodialysis care
Other: Group B (Usual hemodialysis care )
Before starting the study, verbal and written consent will be obtained from patients who meet the sampling criteria. Patient identification forms will be completed. At the initial visit, patients' Dialysis Symptom Index and Nottingham Health Profile will be assessed, and this assessment will be recorded as week 0. Patients will be instructed to record their step count on the pedometer section of their smartphone at the end of each day. During each hemodialysis session, researchers will check the follow-up form using the pedometer application on the patient's smartphone and discuss daily care practices. This group of patients will be asked to answer again in the 1st and 2nd months to see the change in the Dialysis Symptom Index and Nottingham Health Profile.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Dialysis symptoms
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks
The presence of dialysis symptoms is answered with a "yes" or "no" response. The scores obtained are summed to determine the scale score. The minimum score on this scale is "0" and the maximum is "150."
From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks
Health profile
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks
The Nottingham Health Profile consists of two sections. The first section covers the individual's health domain, and the second section covers areas affected by their health status. Questions are answered with "yes" or "no." The minimum score on the scale is "0," indicating good health, and the maximum score is "100," indicating poor health.
From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Figen Akay

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

December 15, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

May 31, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 18, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 26, 2025

First Posted (Estimated)

December 9, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

December 9, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 26, 2025

Last Verified

November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • TABED 2-25-942

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Hemodialysis

Clinical Trials on Group A (Home-based walking)

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Bahamas

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe