"Quality of life in hemodialysis patients "

Abstract

To determine quality of life and various factors affecting it , we conducted a cross-sectional survery among 103 hemodialysis patients in four teaching hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Sciences.A quality of life questionnaire (QLQ). Containing various items relating to physical, psychological and social aspects of life was filled by interviewing each patient and a total score ranging from 70 to 300 was assigned to denote overall life quality. We also determined the most common underlying renal diseases and comorbid conditions in these patients.The most common underlying renal diseases were found to be primary glomeruloarteriolar disease, interstitial disease, diabetes mellitus and essential hypertension. Common comorbid conditions in this study were musculoskeletal diseases (osteoarhritis), spinal disorders, gastrointestinal, cardjovascular and endocrine problems. Moreover, restricted social life, financial difficulties, loss of independence and family/marital strain emerged as major psychosocial problems affecting the lives of our patients.The percentage of patients who had reached a satisfactory level of adaptation with dialysis therapy (46%) was distinctly lower than that reported from the United States. Advanced age and the presence of comorbid diseases were found to have a negative impact on the patients’ life quality, while a psositive association was recorded between quality of life and longer duration of dialysis treatment.Overall, these findings indicate a significant degree of psychosocial impairment in our patients and emphasize the importance of providing effective counseling and rehabiliation services to hemodialysis patients