Does Hemodialysis Affect Upper Extremity Functional Capacity, Physical Activity and Physical Function of Patients?

Turkish version of the Shoulder, Arm and Hand Problems Questionnaire (The DASH-T) was used to asses the functional level of the upper extremity. Turkish version of the shoulder, arm and hand problems questionnaire consists of 30 questions. The first 20 questions are to examine physical competence, and the last 10 questions question pain and related functional and environmental constraints. As the score is closer to zero, the functional level of the person is high; as the score is far from zero the functional level of the person is low .

To asses the level of physical activity, The Turkish version of International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form was used . In the turkish version of international physical activity questionnaire short form, physical activities were made at least 10 minutes at a time. In the last 7 days of the survey; Severe physical activity duration (min), moderate physical activity duration (min), walking and one day sitting time (min) were questioned. According to the total physical activity score, the physical activity levels of the participants were classified as low level (under 600 MET min /week), intermediate level (600-3000 MET-min /week) and high level (over 3000 MET-min / week) .

The Human Activity Profile (HAP) was used to measure the physical function level. Human activity profile is a scale consisting of 94 items developed to determine the level of physical function in healthy individuals or individuals with chronic diseases at different ages . For each of the 94 items the respondent is asked to indicate whether they are still doing the activity, stopped doing the activity or have never done the activity before. Two scores are calculated: the maximum activity score (MAS) and the adjusted activity score (AAS).

The physical activity level of the person is in one of 3 subgroups according to the adjusted activity score: <53 points: insufficient activity level, 53-74 points: moderately active and > 74 points: active .