In recent years, measuring quality of life (QoL) to quantify the impact of disease on patients' lives has become widespread. We conducted a study to evaluate the QoL of hemodialysis patients in Dakar and to identify factors that influence it.
Patients and methods: This cross-sectional study took place from May through July 2008 in two hemodialysis centers in the city of Dakar. It included all patients who had been undergoing dialysis for more than 3 months, were in stable clinical condition with no hospitalization in the previous month and consented to participate. QoL was assessed with the Kidney Disease Quality Of Life Short-Form version 1.2 (KDQoL-SF), which comprises 43 items specific to kidney disease as well as the 36 items of the SF-36.
Results: Our study included 60 patients. Their mean age was 50.5 years, and the male/female sex ratio was 0.9. The global mean score (for the SF-36 was 45.7 ± 25.5, 41 ± 24.4 for the physical dimension and 53.6 ± 27.3 for the mental health dimension. The mean global KDQoL score was 55.2 ± 24.0, 44.8 ± 26.1 for the physical dimension, and 54.8 ± 24.4 for the mental health dimension, 60.8 ± 21.3 for the specific dimension of dialysis and 78.4 ± 22.3 for patient satisfaction. The study shows that the QoL of 90% of our patients was impaired by their kidney disease.
Conclusion: Studies that focus on QoL of dialysis patients are rare in Africa. This one showed an impaired QoL, especially for physical health, among our hemodialysis patients.