Mental health at the third month of haemodialysis as a predictor of short-term survival.
BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to evaluate the survival of patients initiating haemodialysis (HD), and to analyse whether low health-related quality of life (HRQoL) levels are predictors of mortality in the short-term, controlling certain variables that had been shown in other studies to have a bearing on survival, and using scores, standardized for age and sex, of the HRQoL measurement tool employed.


METHODS
This is a multicentric prospective study of all patients on HD in all the dialysis units in Asturias, a region with a little over one million inhabitants, from 1 January 2001 to 30 September 2002. A total of 199 patients initiated HD in our region and survived the first 3 months. Of these, 137 patients who remained on HD for at least 3 months had complete responses on HRQoL measures.


RESULTS
It was observed that adjusted relative risk (RR) of death increased by 5% for each year of age increase (RR=1.05, 95% CI 1.01-1.09: P=0.006); in the same way, for each increase in the Mental Component Summary (MCS) score, the adjusted RR of death diminished by 4% (RR=0.96, 95% CI 0.94-0.99; P=0.006).


CONCLUSIONS
Mental health has been shown to be a factor independently associated with mortality; as the MCS score worsens the adjusted RR of death of a patient on HD increases.
Valdés
Covadonga
C
Nephrology Unit, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Spain. cvaldes@hca.es
García-Mendoza
Mónica
M
Rebollo
Pablo
P
Ortega
Teresa
T
Ortega
Francisco
F
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000401:mortality*; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D013534:Survival / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D013997:Time Factors