Comparison of quality of life and causes of hospitalization between hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients in China.
BACKGROUND
Hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) are important renal replacement treatment in end stage renal disease (ESRD), but the comparison of quality of life (QOL) and causes of hospitalisation between the two modalities in China is lacking. In the present study, we compared the two modalities in a multi-center study.


METHODS
Six hundred and fifty four HD and 408 PD patients were investigated from 10 hospitals in China from Sept, 2004 to Jan, 2005. Among the HD patients, there were 360 males and 294 females with a mean age of 57.22 +/- 12.49 years (18-88 y). Among PD patients, there were 165 males and 243 females, with a mean age of 61.59 +/- 12.65 years (22-89 y). Health related 36 items short form questionnaires (SF-36) were used to assess the quality of life. Hospitalisation data were collected and analyzed.


RESULTS
SF-36 domains of Body Pain (BP), General Health (GH), Role-Emotional (RE), Social Functioning (SF), Vitality (VT) and Mental Health (MH) were all significantly higher in the PD patients as compared to the HD patients although there was no significant difference in Physical Functioning (PF) and Role-Physical (RP) between the two groups. The two most common causes of hospitalisation in HD patients were cardiovascular disease (39.8%) and pulmonary infection (21.3%), while they were infectious peritonitis (47.6%) and cardiovascular disease (31.9%) in PD patients. The ever hospitalised patients had lower SF-36 scores in the domains of PF, BP, GH, RE, SF, VT and MH as compared to those of non-hospitalised patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study indicated that with the current practice in China, PD patients may enjoy better quality of life than their HD counterparts. Our results also showed that the most common cause of hospitalisation was cardiovascular disease in HD patients and peritonitis in PD patients.
Division of Nephrology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China. zhangaihua0982@sina.com
Ai-Hua
AH
Zhang
Li-Tao
LT
Cheng
Ning
N
Zhu
Ling-Hua
LH
Sun
Tao
T
Wang
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010530:Peritoneal Dialysis / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires