Physical Activity Shows Dose-Response Relationship to Kidney Function Decline in Older Adults

Feb 26, 2025

TUESDAY, Feb. 25, 2025 (HealthDay News) — There is a dose-response relationship between physical activity and rapid kidney function decline in older adults, according to a study published online Feb. 11 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Stein I. Hallan, M.D., Ph.D., from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, and colleagues investigated the dose-response effect of physical exercise on kidney function preservation in older adults (aged 70 to 77 years). The post-hoc analysis included 1,156 participants in the Generation 100 Study, who were randomly assigned to a control (education) group (385 participants), supervised moderate-intensity continuous training (70 percent of peak heart rate) for 50 minutes twice weekly for five years (380 participants), or high-intensity interval training (90 percent of peak heart rate) for four minutes four times twice weekly for five years (391 participants).

The researchers found that oxygen uptake increased by 1.8, 2.3, and 3.3 mL/kg/min in the control, moderate-intensity, and high-intensity groups, respectively. Rapid estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decline occurred across groups (30, 28, and 23 percent, respectively). For the moderate-intensity (relative risk [RR], 0.93; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.75 to 1.16) and high-intensity (RR, 0.75; 95 percent CI, 0.59 to 0.95) groups, there was a significant dose-response relationship. Participants with decreasing moderate-to-vigorous activity over time (> −20 minutes/week) had a trend for rapid eGFR decline (RR, 1.30; 95 percent CI, 0.93 to 1.83), while those with increasing activity (> +20 minutes/week) had lower risk (RR, 0.73; 95 percent CI, 0.53 to 0.99) versus stable activity, when adjusting for baseline factors.

“Preservation of kidney function should be recognized as one of the numerous health benefits of high-intensity exercise training,” the authors write.

Two authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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