Physical exercise and peritoneal dialysis: An area yet to be explored.

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD) is profoundly impaired by their frailty, disability and decreased physical capacity. Especially among older patients, a high prevalence of low physical activity levels and reduced functional performance has been reported. Physical exercise training has been shown to have a beneficial impact, counteracting these same hazardous consequences of inactivity and sedentarism both on CKD and end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients on hemodialysis (HD) treatment. The evidence-based knowledge on the effects of physical exercise on ESKD patients undergoing Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) treatment is scarce, even though this is a continually growing population that shares the same risk factors and desired clinical outcomes as the previously mentioned groups of patients. Further investigation will be necessary to clarify whether this exercise-based approach may be suitable for the PD population. This paper's purpose is to review the available literature, including randomized controlled trials, reviews and meta-analysis results that assessed the impact of physical exercise on patients under PD treatment bearing in mind their HRQoL, physical functioning and cardiovascular parameters. Furthermore, it aims to evaluate the perceived significant barriers and limitations of the PD population in what concerns physical exercise practice and how nephrologists should address them.