The relationship between serum vitamin D levels and health-related quality of life in peritoneal dialysis patients

Abstract

Introduction: We aimed to investigate the relationship between Vitamin D level and quality of life in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis as renal replacement therapy.

Methods: 50 peritoneal dialysis patients aged between 18 and 73 years were included in this study. KDQOL-36 questionnaire was applied to rate the quality of life of the patients. This questionnaire consisted of 36 questions divided into five subscales. The patients were divided into two groups according to serum vitamin D levels. Patients with a serum 25(OH) D level < 20 ng/mL were identified as vitamin D deficiency group and those with a serum 25(OH)D level ≥ 20 ng/mL were identified as normal vitamin D group.

Results: The patients had a mean age of 41.16 ± 16.05 years, 56% of them were females. The mean 25(OH) D levels of patients with 25 (OH) D levels < 20 ng/mL and those with ≥ 20 ng/mL were 10.50 ± 4.62 ng/mL and 25.55 ± 4.11 ng/mL, respectively. We found that all subscales of KDQOL-36 were lower with statistically significance in the group with Vitamin D (Vit-D) deficiency. Hemoglobin level was detected as independent risk factor for Symptom and problem list subscales and SF-12 physical component summary subscale (PCS) (P = 0.029, P = 0.047). Vit-D deficiency was detected as independent risk factors for kidney disease burden subscale and PCS (P = 0.035, P = 0.019). Hypertension was detected as independent risk factor for kidney disease burden subscale (P = 0.015).

Conclusion: Our study is the first to investigate the relationship between serum Vit-D level and quality of life by KDQOL-36 scale in peritoneal dialysis patients. We revealed that patients with low Vit-D levels had worse quality of life in all subscales.

Keywords: 25-Hydroxyvitamin D; Kidney Disease Quality of Life 36; Peritoneal Dialysis; Vitamin D deficiency.