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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Exercise Physiology
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1436742

Tailored exercise with telehealth monitoring improves adherence and global health in kidney transplant recipients

Provisionally accepted
Marco Vecchiato Marco Vecchiato 1Federica Duregon Federica Duregon 1Emanuele Zanardo Emanuele Zanardo 1*Veronica Baioccato Veronica Baioccato 1Giulia Quinto Giulia Quinto 1Alberto Livio Alberto Livio 1Barbara Mazzucato Barbara Mazzucato 1Chiara Sarri Chiara Sarri 2Lia Bellis Lia Bellis 3Claudia Carella Claudia Carella 3Massimo Cardillo Massimo Cardillo 3Daniel Neunhaeuserer Daniel Neunhaeuserer 1Andrea Ermolao Andrea Ermolao 1Francesca Battista Francesca Battista 1
  • 1 Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
  • 2 Sports and Exercise Medicine Division, Department of Medicine, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
  • 3 Italian National Transplant Centre, Rome, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Tailored exercise prescription is a crucial intervention for kidney transplant recipients (KTRs). This longitudinal study investigates the impact on long-term effectiveness of exercise prescriptions over one year follow-up, implementing telehealth tools for exercise administration and adherence monitoring. KTRs were evaluated with clinical assessments including body composition, blood and urinary parameters, physical performance and quality of life at baseline (T0), after six (T6) and twelve (T12) months. The adherence to prescribed exercise training was monitored via video call interviews until T6 when the sample was divided into a group monitored via wearables (WG) and a group continuing video calls (VG) until T12. Twenty-six KTRs completed the study. No changes in body composition and kidney function were reported. KTRs showed an improvement in lipid profile, systolic blood pressure, cardiorespiratory fitness and quality of life. WG showed no clinical differences compared to VG except for reported higher quality of life. A good adherence to the exercise prescription was obtained with both monitoring methods (232 vs 253 min/week). This study reinforces the inclusion exercise training for KTRs to enhance physical fitness and reduce cardiovascular risk factors. These results emphasize the role of telehealth monitoring methods as motivators for adherence to long-term exercise prescriptions.

    Keywords: Ktr, Exercise, physical activity, Transplantation, Telemedicine, device, Tele-health

    Received: 22 May 2024; Accepted: 12 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Vecchiato, Duregon, Zanardo, Baioccato, Quinto, Livio, Mazzucato, Sarri, Bellis, Carella, Cardillo, Neunhaeuserer, Ermolao and Battista. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Emanuele Zanardo, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Padua, Padua, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.