PD1074 - A SCOPING REVIEW ON DIET AND EXERCISE PREHABILITATION FOR CANDIDATES TO KIDNEY TRANSPLANT

PD1074

A SCOPING REVIEW ON DIET AND EXERCISE PREHABILITATION FOR CANDIDATES TO KIDNEY TRANSPLANT

N. T. Bellafronte^1,*, L. O. dos Santos², A. F. M. Santos¹, N. T. Bellafronte¹

¹Nutrition, ²Clinical Hospital Complex, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil

Rationale: Kidney transplantation (KT) is the treatment of choice for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), but 30% of patients suffer from post-operative complications. To enhance recovery after surgery, not just the surgical procedure play a role but does the pre-operative patient condition. The last can be enhanced by prehabilitation through planned interventions delivered before surgery. Our aim was to conduct a scoping review of prehabilitation interventions for patients with CKD awaiting KT.

Methods: Following Joanna Briggs Institute methodology, studies published until October 2025 were searched in PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, EMBASE, Web of Science, CINAHL, the Virtual Health Library, and Cochrane. Eligible studies enrolled patients with CKD awaiting  KT who underwent nutritional and/or exercise-based prehabilitation programs. Risk of bias was assessed using Cochrane tools.

Results: From 3,993 records, ten studies were included: three randomized, one non-randomized and two uncontrolled clinical trials, two protocols, and two registries. Six studies delivered exercise-only programs, three incorporated a dietetic intervention and one included cognitive therapy. Intervention duration ranged from 2 weeks to 12 months, delivered in-person (n = 6), home-based (n = 8), or virtually (n = 2). Nutritional status and food consumption were assessed in three studies, anthropometry (weight and body mass index) in all and body composition in eight reports. All studies performed physical tests (Short Physical Performance Battery, n = 5; six-minute walk distance, n = 5; hand grip strength, n =8; walking speed, n = 5). All studies presented high risk of bias. Overall, interventions were safe and improved physical performance.

Conclusion: Prehabilitation for KT candidates appear feasible, safe, and potentially beneficial. However, well-powered, well-design, multimodal randomized trials are needed to establish clinical efficacy.

Disclosure of Interest: None declared