title: Health-related quality of life of predialysis patients with chronic renal failure.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Health-related quality of life (HQOL) of predialysis patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) has received less attention than that of dialysis patients. We investigated changes in SF-36 over 1 year and examined associations between clinical parameters and SF-36 in predialysis CRF patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were 471 predialysis CRF patients. SF-36 and clinical parameters were measured every 8 weeks for 48 weeks. Of the 471 subjects, 294 underwent one or more follow-ups. We analyzed the pooled dataset of the 294 CRF patients and 2002 subjects from Japanese general population using analysis of covariance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After adjustment for age and sex, the 1-year declines in SF-36 domains were significantly greater in the predialysis patients than in the general population. For a 10% decline in hematocrit from the baseline survey value, the decline in vitality of SF-36 was 4.5 points (p = 0.003), while for a 10% increase in serum creatinine from the baseline survey value, respective declines in physical functioning, role-physical and mental health were 1.2 (p = 0.004), 1.9 (p = 0.035), and 1.0 points (p = 0.008).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among these predialysis CRF patients, the decline in HQOL was faster than that in the general population, and was associated with an increase in serum creatinine and decline in hematocrit.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Medicine and Public Health, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Shunichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fukuhara
authors.forename: Shin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamazaki
authors.forename: Fumiaki
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marumo
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akiba
authors.forename: Tadao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akizawa
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fujimi
authors.forename: Shigekazu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haruki
authors.forename: Yoshindo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawaguchi
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nihei
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shoji
authors.forename: Teiryou
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maeda
mesh_terms: D017281:Cost of Illness; D003404:Creatinine / Q000097:blood; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000097:blood / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D006435:Renal Dialysis
chemical_list: D003404:Creatinine