Vinitha Varghese
1 
, Madhusudan Vijayan
2, Georgi Abraham
1,2* , Sam Nishanth
2, Milly Mathew
1, Rajeevalochana Parthasarathy
2, Nevin Mancha
11 Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Pondicherry, India
2 Madras Medical Mission, Chennai, India
Abstract
Introduction: There is a paucity of data from India regarding the physical activity assessment
of hemodialysis patients.
Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the level of physical activity and
nutritional status of Indian dialysis patients.
Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional multicenter study was conducted in two tertiary
care centers. The physical activity of 116 patients was assessed by the Rapid Assessment of
Physical Activity (RAPA) questionnaire and correlated with various biochemical parameters
of nutrition.
Results: We divided the patients based on serum albumin level into group 1 (≤ 3.5 g/dL) and
group 2 (>3.5 g/dL). The mean RAPA-1 scores of both groups were suboptimal; group 1 had
a mean score of 2.514 ± 0.901 and group 2 had a mean score of 3.215 ± 1.257 (P=0.003). The
mean handgrip strength of group 1 was 35.222 ± 13.568 kg and that of group 2 was 41.472 ±
17.874 kg (P=0.062).
Conclusion: These results should alert physicians taking care of maintenance hemodialysis
patients to improve nutritional status and thereby physical activity to ensure better outcomes.
Implication for health policy/practice/research/medical education:
To determine the level of physical activity and nutritional status of Indian dialysis patients, we conducted a study on 116
hemodialysis patients by the Rapid Assessment of Physical Activity questionnaire and correlated with various biochemical
parameters of nutrition. This study showed that hemodialysis patients in India have low levels of physical activity, handgrip
strength and suboptimal levels of biochemical parameters of nutrition.
Please cite this paper as: Varghese V, Vijayan M, Abraham G, Nishanth S, Mathew M, Parthasarathy R, Mancha N. Rapid
assessment of physical activity score in maintenance hemodialysis patients with nutritional assessment J Nephropharmacol.
2019;8(1):e01. DOI: 10.15171/npj.2019.01