title: Longitudinal changes in health-related quality of life scores in Brazilian incident peritoneal dialysis patients (BRAZPD): socio-economic status not a barrier.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A large proportion of the patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD) in Brazil have low levels of education and family income. The present study assessed whether education level and family income are associated with baseline and longitudinal changes in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) scores during the first year of PD therapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated 1624 incident patients from the Brazilian Peritoneal Dialysis Multicenter Study (BRAZPD) at baseline, and 486 of them after 12 months. The SF-36 was used to determine HRQOL and the Karnofsky index (KI), physical performance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At baseline, patients received high KI scores compared with scores on the SF-36. The means of the mental and physical components at baseline and after 12 months were 39.9 ± 10.5 compared with 38.7 ± 11.7 and 41.8 ± 9.6 compared with 40.7 ± 9.8 respectively, which were not statistically different. A multivariate regression analysis showed that age, sex, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease were predictors of the mental component (respectively, β = 0.12, p < 0.001; β = 0.11, p < 0.001; β = -0.08, β = 0.007; and β = -0.07, p = 0.007) and that age, sex, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hemoglobin, glucose, and creatinine were predictors of the physical component (respectively, β = -0.28, p < 0.001; β = 0.06, p = 0.009; β = -0.09, p = 0.002; β = -0.09, p = 0.001; β = 0.07, p = 0.004; β = -0.05, p = 0.040; and β = 0.05, p = 0.040). Education level and family income were not significantly associated with HRQOL (mental and physical components) in the multivariate regression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results indicate that, as predictors, family income and education level have no impact on HRQOL, supporting the idea that socio-economic status should not be a barrier to the selection of PD as a treatment modality in Brazil.
authors: Interdisciplinary Program of Studies, Research, and Treatment in Nephrology,1 Department of Medicine,2 and Department of Statistics,3 Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Brazil;
authors: Fabiane Rossi
authors: FR
authors: dos Santos Grincenkov
authors: Natália
authors: N
authors: Fernandes
authors: Alfredo
authors: A
authors: Chaoubah
authors: Neimar
authors: N
authors: da Silva Fernandes
authors: Kleyton
authors: K
authors: Bastos
authors: Antonio Alberto
authors: AA
authors: Lopes
authors: Abdul Rashid
authors: AR
authors: Qureshi
authors: Fredric O
authors: FO
authors: Finkelstein
authors: Roberto
authors: R
authors: Pecoits-Filho
authors: José Carolino
authors: JC
authors: Divino-Filho
authors: Marcus Gomes
authors: MG
authors: Bastos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001938:Brazil; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010530:Peritoneal Dialysis; D011788:Quality of Life
keywords: BRAZPD; Health-related quality of life; Karnofsky index; SF-36; education level; family income; socioeconomic status