Quality of life among patients undergoing haemodialysis for chronic kidney disease: a cross-sectional study from Western India

Introduction: Haemodialysis is the most often utilised therapy for  extending life of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. Studying their quality of life (QoL) can offer valuable insi ghts for healthcare policy makers.
Objectives: To assess the QoL and factors influencing it among CK D patients undergoing haemodialysis
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 patient s undergoing haemodialysis at randomly selected two dialysis centres of Ahmedabad City of Gujarat, India. They were  recruited using consecutive sampling method. A validated questionnaire including the Kidney Disease Quality of Life -Short Form™ version 1.3 (KDQOL-SF™ v1.3) was used to assess the QoL. Average scores for Component Summar y (CS) including kidney disease (KDCS), physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) were calculated. Factors influencing the Q oL were identified by comparing median CS scores using Kruskal Wallis ANOVA and Mann Whitney U test.
Results: The mean age of participants was 55.65 (SD=12.56) yea rs and 42% were females. Mean (SD) score for KDCS, PCS and MCS were 70.49 (9.04), 57.21 (23.21) and 65.31 ( 15.26), respectively. The highest mean (SD) score was for ‘dialysis staff encouragement’ 96.25 (8.4) followed by ‘social support’ 91.5 (19.55) and cognitive function 88.33 (13.37). The burden of kidney disease 17.62 (25.12), work  status 40 (32.48) and role limitation caused by physical health 47.87 (47.73) had the lowest scores. Patients ≥ 50 ye ars and those diagnosed with both diabetes and hypertension, demonstrated markedly lower scores (p<0.01) across al l three QoL components. Other significant factors were education and occupation.
Conclusions & Recommendations: Kidney diseases and mental c omponent QoL scores were better compared to physical component. Factors influencing QoL were age, education, oc cupation and comorbidities.