Background: The quality of life (QoL) is an important predictor of outcome in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. Therefore, QoL needs to be regularly assessed in this setting. Our study describes QoL, as well as demographic and clinical variables associated with QoL in chronic haemodialysis (HD) patients in Romania.
Methods: All prevalent chronic HD patients (N = 709; mean age 51.7 +/- 12.6 years) in 12 dialysis centres from the three main regions of Romania were included in the study. Six hundred and six of these completed the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the Kidney Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire-Short Form (KDQOL-SF).
Results: The mean physical component summary (PCS) score was 46.3 +/- 19.2, and the mean mental component summary (MCS) score was 55.1 +/- 19.3. These figures were lower than those previously described in non-dialysis age-matched Romanian individuals. The mean kidney disease summary component (KDSC) score was 68.3 +/- 11.3, similar to other studies. The worst dimension of QoL was work, whereas the best ones were cognitive function and quality of social interaction. We found older age, female gender, lower socio-economic status and higher educational level to be associated with lower QoL scores.
Conclusions: The QoL of HD patients in Romania is lower than that in the general population. Our results suggest that at least one-third of these patients might be considered for rehabilitation therapy, in order to try and prevent complications and mortality.