The Faculty of Sport was selected, within the framework of the project “Integrated Care of Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease with a Focus on Strengthening Health Literacy and Reducing Health Inequalities – Stop CKD”, led by the University Medical Centre Ljubljana, as the implementing institution for the Exercise Program and physical fitness testing.

The “Stop CKD” project was conceived to develop a tailored preventive approach to prevent, treat, and slow the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The project addresses the significant public health burden of CKD, which affects approximately 10–13% of adults and presents a major challenge due to associated morbidity, the need for dialysis, and mortality. Reliable diagnosis can slow the decline in kidney function, improve blood pressure control, enable faster access to interdisciplinary care, delay the need for renal replacement therapy, improve eligibility for kidney transplant waiting lists, encourage home dialysis, enhance biomedical indicators of disease control, and improve long-term patient survival.

The purpose of “Stop CKD” is the systematic introduction of early detection in family medicine practices, interdisciplinary preventive care at the primary care level, and an integrated care pathway for people with CKD, by improving (navigational) health literacy and reducing health inequalities.

The project’s goal is to empower people with CKD to adopt healthier lifestyles—achieving lasting reductions in obesity, regression of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, sustained improvement in blood pressure control with the lowest feasible pharmacotherapy, and enabling CKD-specific nutritional, psychosocial, and exercise interventions. The long-term objective is the permanent integration of the developed, tested, and adapted approaches into the primary healthcare system, leading to better care and outcomes for people with CKD.

By developing physical activity programmes for individuals with chronic kidney disease, the Faculty of Sport will contribute to the main objective of the project, which is to empower people with CKD in lifestyle management. The aim is to achieve a lasting reduction in obesity, regression of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, sustainable improvement in the management of arterial hypertension with the lowest possible prescription of pharmacotherapy, and to enable specific dietary, psychosocial, and exercise interventions adapted to CKD.

To prepare physical activity programmes for people with CKD, we will carry out the following key activities:

• conducting baseline and final physical fitness assessments of enrolled patients and reporting results to partners,
• delivering physical activity programmes through individual and group sessions during the intervention development phase,
• accelerometer-based monitoring of participating patients to quantify sedentary, light, moderate, and vigorous physical activity and to estimate energy expenditure,
• regular reporting of results to healthcare partners.

All activities take place in the Faculty’s fully equipped sports halls, laboratories, and fitness centre. The programme is delivered by a qualified multidisciplinary team (kinesiologists, physicians, and physiotherapists) led by Prof. Maja Pajek, PhD.

Contracting authority: University Medical Centre Ljubljana (UKC Ljubljana)

Implementer: University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Sport

More information is available on the project website.

The project is co-financed by the European Union (ESF+) and the Republic of Slovenia – Ministry of Health under the European Cohesion Policy Programme 2021–2027.