A Feasibility Study of a Wrist Worn Accelerometer to Characterise the Physical Activity of Patients With End-stage Renal Disease (W-WARD Study).

The kidneys are important at getting rid of toxins and excess water from the body. If they fail, then toxins and excess water builds up within the body. Kidney failure is treated by either giving patients a new kidney (a transplant) or by removing the toxins and fluid from the body by the process of dialysis.

The investigators' aim is to personalise the care given to patients with kidney failure, and as such, they have started measuring the fitness of patients with kidney failure, who either already require dialysis or may need dialysis in the near future. This is currently done in a number of ways including measuring how strong their grip is, assessing their walking speed and asking questions about how difficult they find certain activities.

In the future, the investigators think that this will allow targeted treatments to help improve their fitness and potentially identify any problems earlier.

Current approaches to measuring activity and fitness have limitations and in particular may over- or underestimate the level of the physical activity. To over come these limitations, participants will be asked to wear an activity tracker (called an accelerometer) on for a week. Readings from the accelerometer will be compared against the other markers of fitness and activity to see if they are comparable. It will also be noted whether patients are prepared to wear the device for 7 days (compliance).