Health-related quality of life of patients recieving hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis in São Paulo, Brazil: a longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate quality of life in patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) or peritoneal dialysis (PD) in São Paulo, Brazil.
METHODS: Inclusion criteria for this is a 1-year prospective study included being 18 years of age or older and clinically stable receiving chronic dialysis. Quality of life was measured using the SF-12 and the Kidney Disease Quality of Life questionnaires at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months. Patients who completed the surveys for all three periods were evaluated. Differences in quality of life scores were measured using univariate and multivariate regression analyses.
RESULTS: One hundred eighty-nine of 249 (76%) HD patients and 161 of 228 (71%) PD patients completed all three surveys. The PD group was older and a larger number had diabetes. PD patients consistently had higher scores than HD patients at all three measurement periods for patient satisfaction (P = 0.002, P = 0.005, and P = 0.005, respectively), encouragement/support from staff (P = 0.003, P = 0.017, and P = 0.029, respectively), and burden of kidney disease (P = 0.003, P = 0.017, and P = 0.057, respectively). The HD group had a greater percent of patients who clinically improved from baseline to 12 months compared to PD patients for sleep quality, social support, encouragement/support from staff, and overall health. Scores for other dimensions of the Kidney Disease Quality of Life and SF-12 questionnaires were not significantly different between the PD and HD groups.
CONCLUSIONS: The results provide evidence that PD and HD patients have equivalent health-related quality of life in several domains, although the former performed better in some quality of life domains despite being older and having more comorbidities.