BACKGROUND: CKD is associated with several comorbidities, cardiovascular disease being the most significant. Aerobic training has a beneficial effect on cardiovascular health in healthy and some well-defined non-healthy populations. However, the effect of aerobic training on glomerular filtration rate in patients with CKD stages 3 to 4 is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To review the effects of aerobic exercise training on kidney and cardiovascular function in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 3 to 4. METHODS: A random-effects meta-analysis was performed to analyse published randomized controlled trials through February 2018 on the effect of aerobic training on estimated glomerular filtration rate, blood pressure and exercise tolerance in patients with CKD stages 3 to 4. Web of Science, PubMed and Embase databases were searched for eligible studies. RESULTS: 11 randomized controlled trials were selected including 362 participants in total. Favourable effects were observed on estimated glomerular filtration rate (+2.16 ml/min per 1.73m2; (0.18 to 4.13)) and exercise tolerance (+2.39 ml/kg/min; (0.99 to 3.79)) following an on average 35-week aerobic training program when compared to standard care. No difference in change in blood pressure was found. CONCLUSIONS: There is a small beneficial effect of aerobic training on estimated glomerular filtration rate and exercise tolerance, but not on blood pressure, in patients with CKD stages 3 to 4. However, data are limited and pooled findings were rated as of low to moderate quality.

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