Abstract: Objective  To assess the impact of intradialytic aerobic exercise on survival status and quality of life among maintenance hemodialysis patients. Methods  A systematic literature search for randomized controlled trials on intradialytic aerobic exercise was performed in PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, Wanfang, VIP and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) from inception until October first, 2023. The Jadad scale was used to perform quality assessment. The Stata 12.0 software was used to perform meta-analysis.  Results  A total of 30 studies were included. Meta-analysis showed that intradialytic hypotension (OR=0.410, 95% CI:0.181～0.930, P=0.033), restless legs syndrome (WMD=
-4.661, 95% CI:-5.331～-3.992, P＜0.001), 60-second sit-to-stand test (WMD=3.075, 95% CI:1.367～4.783, P＜0.001), 5-repetition sit-to-stand test (WMD=-1.447, 95% CI:-2.716～-0.237, P=0.020), 10-repetition sit-to-stand test (WMD=-4.630, 95% CI:-7.41～-1.849, P=0.001), 6-minute walk distance (WMD=44.903, 95% CI:32.651～57.155, P＜0.001), hand grip strength (WMD=6.207, 95% CI:3.368～9.046, P＜0.001), single pool clearance index (WMD=0.095, 95% CI:0.051～0.140, P＜0.001), urea reduction ratio (WMD=4.820, 95% CI:3.565～6.075, P＜0.001) and life quality scores were improved in the patients with intradialytic aerobic exercise group as compared to the patients using conventional care group. Subgroup analysis suggested that the dialysis adequacy, 60-second sit-to-stand test and 6-minute walking distance improved more in the long-term intervention group than in the short-term intervention group.  Conclusions  Intradialytic aerobic exercise can improve survival status and quality of life in hemodialysis patients, and the effectiveness becomes better in the patients with longer term of the intervention.

Key words: Renal dialysis, Aerobic exercise