Journal of Palliative Care & Medicine
Open Access

Review Article

Health Related Quality of Life in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients

Department of Nephrology, Peritoneal Dialysis Section, Achillopouleion General Hospital, Volos, Greece

*Corresponding Author:

P Malindretos
Department of Nephrology, Peritoneal Dialysis Section
Achillopouleion General Hospital, Volos, Greece
E-mail: pavlosmm@hotmail.com

Received date: July 31, 2012; Accepted date: September 14, 2012; Published date: September 16, 2012

Citation: Malindretos P (2012) Health Related Quality of Life in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients. J Palliative Care Med S1:007. doi: 10.4172/2165-7386.S1-007

Copyright: © 2012 Malindretos P. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and especially End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) have a detrimental effect on both patients’ life expectancy, as well as on Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL). The detrimental effects of ESRD and dialysis treatment on HRQOL have been confirmed on three different continents. However, there are some international differences in HRQOL scores. Japanese patients seem to have better physical functioning than the patients from the United States and Europe. On the other hand, United States patients score higher in mental component summary. Additionally, Japanese patients report the greatest burden for kidney disease. Physical Component Summary (PCS), Mental Component (MCS) and Kidney Disease Component Summary (KDCS), have been found to be strongly associated with higher risk of death and hospitalization in hemodialysis patients independent of demographic and comorbid factors. It has been observed that peritoneal dialysis patients present less bodily pain, better traveling possibilities, less diet restriction, less burden regarding dialysis access, as well as higher scores in physical functioning and emotional problems at the initiation of dialysis treatment. On the other hand, HD patients tend to show greater improvement in time as regards physical functioning, general health perceptions, sleep and global quality of life. It is of no surprise the fact that patients after successful kidney transplantation report QOL which is comparable to that of healthy volunteers.

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