The importance of illness perception in end-stage renal disease: associations with psychosocial and clinical outcomes.

Illness perceptions refer to organized beliefs surrounding the symptoms, consequences, time course, controllability, and causes of an illness. Illness perceptions have been shown to predict a range of psychosocial and clinical outcomes in patients with ESRD including depression, nonadherence, and even survival. Accordingly, personal illness beliefs are novel yet potentially modifiable prognostic factors. Studies are required to assert whether illness perception-based interventions deliver the promise of improved subjective and clinical well-being in patients with ESRD.