The Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) was administered to 85 dialysis patients treated at Mestre Hospital, to assess their quality of life and compare any differences between haemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. The two groups were similar for the main characteristics. Overall dialysis patients do not enjoy a good quality of life. Comparing baseline demographic and clinical scores, 72.9% patients have problems with energy and 69.4 with mobility, 47.1% refer pain and 54.1% sleep disorders. The main differences between HD and PD patients concern psychological reactions, where 42.9% of HD patients report "at risk/compromised" scores compared to 17.2% of PD patients. NHP showed to be an easy to administer and efficient instrument in identifying areas of concern for dialysis patients.