Medicine and Science in Sports and ExerciseNov 10, 2026, 22:14 GMT

Low muscle power linked to death risk in hemodialysis patients

In hemodialysis patients, low muscle power was linked to higher relative death risk than higher power over 24 months; the adjusted hazard ratio was 1.67.

Paper by Henrique S. Disessa, Marvery P. Duarte, Jéssica G. Roure, +14on behalf of the SARC-HD Study Group · Sao Paulo State University · University of Brasilia

Thigh muscles, one large and dark blue-green, one smaller and gray, sit among groups of figures with gaps in the gray group and a person beside a chair.

Our read

Biomarkers

Studied:: Cohort study of 922 adults on hemodialysis, against patients with higher muscle power
What changed:: Death risk was higher with low muscle power than higher power (adjusted hazard ratio 1.67)
The catch:: Poorer underlying health could contribute to both low muscle power and death risk

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper

Adults on hemodialysis—a blood-filtering treatment—were studied in a secondary analysis of the SARC-HD cohort. The 922 participants came from 19 Brazilian dialysis centers; 48.6% were at least 60 and 61.5% were male. Researchers estimated muscle power, the ability to produce force quickly, using a test of standing up from a chair five times. They expressed power relative to body weight and defined low power as the bottom third within age and sex groups.

Over 24 months, 12.8% died and 35.4% were hospitalized. Low power was linked to greater mortality after adjustment for clinical factors, but not to hospitalization. The mortality link was particularly strong among patients aged 60 or older, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 2.19. Younger patients had no clear link; their estimate of 1.02 had a range of likely values that included no difference.

Why it matters

Low muscle power predicts poor outcomes in older adults. The authors suggest it may also be a relevant aging-related condition in people on hemodialysis.

Caveats

Poorer underlying health may have contributed to both low muscle power and death risk despite statistical adjustment. The cohort covered adults receiving hemodialysis, not people with kidney disease who were not receiving it.