Exercise in Patients Undergoing Urologic Surgery

Increases in physical activity and nutritional status are associated with improvements in a number of health conditions, including coronary artery disease, hypertension, stroke, insulin sensitivity, osteoporosis, and depression. Regretfully, despite the evidence supporting the benefits of physical activity, greater than half of adults in the United States do not get adequate activity and approximately one quarter do not get any activity. As such, many people, especially the elderly and those with comorbid diseases, have low levels of physical fitness. Additionally, up to 45% of community dwelling older adults are malnourished. Patients undergoing surgery with poor exercise tolerance and suboptimal nutritional status may be at an increased risk of perioperative complications. Thus, increasing physical activity and dietary intake quality prior to surgery is recommended, to hopefully decrease these risks. The primary objective is to determine if recommended physical activity or dietary intake results in an increase in patient physical function performance and if so, to what extent. The secondary goal is to examine if increased exercise or nutrition reduces perioperative complications.