Quality of life of chronic kidney patients on hemodialysis and related factors.
Carolina Renz Pretto, Eliane Roseli Winkelmann, Leila Mariza Hildebrandt and 3 others
PMID 32696925WHAT IT FOUND
Hemodialysis patients had reduced quality of life, especially work status and physical limitations.
Depression, weakness after dialysis, infections, edema, anemia, and medication adherence were associated with lower scores.
Key findings
01Most patients had indications of depression: 111 of 183 (60.7%).
02Depressive symptoms were associated with lower quality-of-life scores in every dimension except patient satisfaction.
03Weakness after hemodialysis was associated with lower scores in 12 quality-of-life dimensions and the physical component.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it measured everything at one time point and cannot show which factor came first or caused poorer quality of life. It compared many quality-of-life variables at a 0.05 significance level, so some associations may have arisen by chance. The analysis did not adjust for other possible explanations, so the reported links may be partly due to other factors. Patients who refused, could not understand the questions, had severe hearing or speech problems, were on peritoneal dialysis, were minors, had acute kidney disease, were occasionally dialyzing, or had worsened health were excluded, so the sample may miss people who cannot self-report or are more unstable. The study was done in two renal units in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, so it may not apply to other settings or dialysis populations.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these associations as proof that depression, weakness after dialysis, infections, edema, anemia, or medication adherence cause lower quality of life. The study was cross-sectional and tested no treatment.