The Quality of Life of Patients with Chronic Kidney DiseaseUndergoing Hemodialysis Therapy

Introduction: Chronic kidney disease is characterized by impairment of the endocrine, excretory and homeostatic functions of the kidneys. The disease develops slowly, is irreversible and in most cases progressive. In the case of kidney failure, the patient must undergo a renal replacement therapy. In Poland, hemodialysis is the most common renal replacement therapy, it extends life expectancy and gives the patient an opportunity to wait for kidney transplant, however, it is not free of disadvantages. Chronic kidney disease and its treatment methods have significant impact on the quality of life of the patients. Purpose: Evaluation of the quality of life of patients undergoing hemodialysis therapy. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on a group of 150 patients in the Independent Public Central Clinical Hospital at Banacha Street in Warsaw. The WHOQOL-Bref. questionnaire was used for the evaluation of the quality of life. The analysis was performed using StatSoft Statistica 13.1 PL statistics software. Results: The mean value of satisfaction from the general quality of life is 3.0/5.0, and of self-assessment of one’s own health is 2.4/5.0. The mean values of the quality of life for the particular domains were: physical-12.00/20.00, psychological-12.5/20.00, social relations-13.5/20.00 and environment-13.2/20.00. Sex, place of residence and financial situation did not have significant impact on the evaluation of the quality of life. Whereas age (pu003c0.03), education (pu003c0.02) and marital status (pu003c0.03) had influence on certain aspects of the quality of life. Conclusion: Hemodialysis has significant negative impact most importantly on the physical and psychological spheres of the patients. Certain socio-demographic variables are relevant in the evaluation of component parts of the quality of life.