Study of Exercise and Monitoring to Improve Muscle Strength and Physical Recovery in Veterans Over 55 With Chronic Kidney Disease

What this Trial Is About

This research focuses on older Veterans with chronic kidney disease CKD, a group at higher risk for hospital-acquired muscle weakness and difficulty fully regaining muscle mass and function after hospitalization. The study aims to improve health by detecting and managing muscle loss related to hospitalization, identifying the best muscle sites for assessment, understanding how muscle health affects hospital stay length and physical resilience, and comparing different exercise methods for recovery. Participants will be enrolled from two Veterans Affairs sites and assessed for muscle strength, mass, composition, mobility, and intrinsic capacity before hospitalization. They will be monitored regularly for at least two years, with muscle health assessments every six months and quarterly strength and function reports via a smartphone app. Those hospitalized will be randomly assigned to either a supervised exercise program focusing on squats, shoulder press, seated row, and bicep curl twice weekly for 16 weeks or to usual care without exercise intervention. Throughout the study, participants will undergo various muscle thickness measurements and strength tests at four and ten months. Researchers will track physical function and resilience through performance tests and feedback. The study includes regular monitoring, data collection, and use of a smartphone app to gather participant information, aiming to better predict hospital outcomes and evaluate the impact of supervised exercise versus usual care on recovery from muscle atrophy.

Exercise and Monitoring With Post-Hospitalization Muscle Atrophy to Sustain Intrinsic Capacity and Strength