Dialysis Symptoms on Exercise Perception of Hemodialysis Patients

Objective: Hemodialysis patients suffer from many symptoms which may affect the exercise perception. This research wasconducted descriptively and relationally to determine the effect of dialysis symptoms on exercise perception in hemodialysis patients.Methods: The study was conducted with 120 hemodialysis patients, who have been treated at the Organ Transplantationand Dialysis Hospital of a university, met the inclusion criteria, and agreed to participate in the study. Questionnaire form,Dialysis Symptom Index, and Dialysis Patient-Perceived Exercise Benefits and Barriers Scale were used to collect data.Results: In the study, the mean Dialysis Symptom Index score of hemodialysis patients was 77 ± 23.5, and the most common symptom was fatigue. The mean Dialysis Patient-Perceived Exercise Benefits and Barriers Scale score of the patientswas 61.8 ± 14, and the most stated that the perception of exercise benefit was improving appetite and perception of exercise barrier was fatigue. In the study, there was a moderately significant positive correlation between Dialysis SymptomIndex and Dialysis Patient-Perceived Exercise Benefits and Barriers Scale (P ≤ .01). Moreover, 21.3% of the patients’ DialysisPatient-Perceived Exercise Benefits and Barriers Scale scores are explained by Dialysis Symptom Index.Conclusion: It was found that the dialysis-related symptoms of the hemodialysis patients included in the study were frequent and the effects were intense. Most of them did not exercise regularly, and their positive perception of exercise wasmoderate.Keywords: Dialysis symptoms, exercise benefits, exercise barriers, hemodialysis