Automated peritoneal dialysis in children and adolescents--benefits: a survey of patients and parents on health-related quality of life.

Automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) benefits children on dialysis and their parents by allowing for more daytime freedom and a more normal life. We carried out a survey on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in children and adolescents from our end-stage renal disease program, including those on APD and hemodialysis (HD), and those who had received a kidney transplant (TX). Parents of patients under 18 years of age were also interviewed. The questionnaire on QOL was adapted from the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory and grouped into seven aspects for which patients and parents were asked to assess the frequency of related problems during the preceding 3 months. We surveyed eligible children among the APD, HD, and TX patients enrolled in our program, and we surveyed the parents of the patients under 18 years of age. For APD, patients and parents both gave their most favorable scores to the peer activities and relationships and family activities and relationships aspects. In the TX group, the family activities and relationships aspect was also scored most favorably of all aspects. Notably, we observed no significant difference between the total scores for the APD and TX groups among patients and parents alike. Although the survey provided only a "snapshot" of HRQOL, the assessment by APD patients and their parents seems to be comparable to that by TX patients and their parents.