Prevalence and determinants of physical activity and fluid intake in kidney transplant recipients

Self-care for kidney transplantation is recommended to maintain kidney function. Little is known about levels of self-care practices and demographic, psychosocial, and health-related correlates.

To investigate patients' self-reported exercise and fluid intake, demographic and psychosocial factors associated with these self-care practices, and health-related quality of life.

Eighty-eight of 158 kidney recipients from two academic medical centers completed a semi-structured interview and surveys 2 months post-transplant.

Most patients were sedentary (76%) with a quarter exercising either regularly (11%) or not at current recommendations (13%). One-third (35%) reported drinking the recommended 3 L of fluid daily. Multivariate analyses indicated that private insurance, high self-efficacy, and better physical functioning were significantly associated with engaging in physical activity (p < 0.05); while male gender, private insurance, high self-efficacy, and not attributing oneself responsible for transplant success were significant predictors of adherence to fluid intake (p < 0.05). Despite the significance of these predictors, models for physical activity and fluid intake explained 10-15% of the overall variance in these behaviors. Multivariate analyses indicated that younger age, high value of exercise, and higher social functioning significantly (p < 0.05) predicted high self-efficacy for physical activity, while being married significantly (p < 0.05) predicted high self-efficacy for fluid intake.

Identifying patients at risk of inadequate self-care practice is essential for educating patients about the importance of self-care.