A study of the association of higher parathormone levels with health-related quality of life in hemodialysis patients.

Secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) is associated with poor outcome including mortality, hospitalization, as well as greater healthcare resource utilization and costs in chronic kidney disease (CKD). We hypothesized that SHPT is also associated with poor self reported health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in prevalent hemodialysis (HD) patients. We conducted a case-control study in patients with CKD receiving longterm HD treatment, in six dialysis clinics in Greece. HRQOL was estimated with the KDQOL-SFTM questionnaire, version 1.3, which includes 43 kidney disease targeted items, and 36 items that provide a generic core and an overall health rating item, with a higher score reflecting a more favorable health state. A total of 156 completed the questionnaire, 50 with high parathormone levels (i.e., PTH > 300 pg/ml and or under vitamin D receptor activators, mean: 329 ± 160.9 pg/ml) and 106 with low parathormone levels (PTH < 300 pg/ml, mean: 132.4 ± 69.0 pg/ml) in a 2 : 1 randomization assignment. Patients with high and with low PTH were 62.1 ± 14.9 and 65.9 ± 14.2 y old and the median dialysis vintage time was 31 and 37 months, respectively. There were no significant differences regarding the presence of comorbidities between groups. Patients with high PTH, compared to patients with low PTH, had lower pain component summary (57.6 ± 33.5 vs. 69.2 ± 28.9; p = 0.041) and physical component summary (41.0 ± 23.8 vs. 50.0 ± 20.8; p = 0.031). Both pain component summary and physical component summary differences remained significant after adjustment for age, gender and vintage (p = 0.036 and p = 0.029, respectively). Low PTH patients scored better in 18 out of 23 subscales. In HD patients, SHPT appears to be associated with worse pain component summary score (p = 0.036) and physical component summary score (p = 0.029). Additional studies are needed to verify these associations and to examine whether correction of SHPT can improve HRQOL.