Mortality and morbidity following exercise-based renal rehabilitation in patients with chronic kidney disease: the effect of programme completion and change in exercise capacity

Abstract Background Twelve weeks of renal rehabilitation (RR) have been shown to improve exercise capacity in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD); however, survival following RR has not been examined. Methods This study included a retrospective longitudinal analysis of clinical service outcomes. Programme completion and improvement in exercise capacity, characterised as change in incremental shuttle walk test (ISWT), were analysed with Kaplan–Meier survival analyses to predict risk of a combined event including death, cerebrovascular accident, myocardial infarction and hospitalisation for heart failure in a cohort of patients with CKD. Time to combined event was examined with Kaplan–Meier plots and log rank test between ‘completers’ (attended >50% planned sessions) and ‘non-completers’. In completers, time to combined event was examined between ‘improvers’ (≥50 m increase ISWT) and ‘non-improvers’ (