title: Quality of life in chronic kidney disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The evaluation of health-related quality of life (QOL) in chronic kidney disease intends to quantify its consequences, according to the patient’s subjective perception.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the health-related QOL in four groups of patients followed at our Nephrology Department: chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 1-4, kidney transplant (KT), haemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty patients with CKD stages 1-4 and 30 KT patients were randomly selected. All patients from our Haemodialysis and Peritoneal Dialysis Units with capacity to answer the inquiry (37 and 14, respectively) were also selected. The instruments applied were the SF-36 and KDQOL-SF 1.3.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The four groups presented better results in the <<Social Functioning >> scale (77.68 ± 18.46 in PD; 74.17 ± 29.53 in KT; 66.81 ± 31.39 in CKD 1-4; 62.16 ± 32.84 in HD; p = 0.192). The lowest results appeared in the <<General Health>> scale (39.92 ± 19.12 in CKD; 45.95 ± 21.56 in HD; 47.13 ± 23.15 in KT; 51.79 ± 18.89 in PD; p = 0.321). Peritoneal dialysis patients achieved the best results in the Physical Health Component, but this difference disappeared after adjustment to confounding factors. Age, gender and haemoglobin level were the variables related with QOL. However, PD patients obtained better scores comparing to HD patients in the following KDQOL-SF scales: <<Effects of kidney disease>>, <<Burden of kidney disease>> and <<Patient satisfaction>> (p <0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Health-related QOL was better in peritoneal dialysis patients comparing to haemodialysis patients in specific scales of chronic kidney disease. Age, gender and haemoglobin level interfered with health-related QOL.
authors.affiliation: Nephrology Department, Centro Hospitalar de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal. monicafructuoso@portugalmail.pt
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fructuoso
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Prata
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morgado
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000740:Anemia / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000453:epidemiology; D010530:Peritoneal Dialysis / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000523:psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires