Quality of life and sleep in hemodialysis patients.

The purpose of this study was to determine the quality of life and sleep of chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients. Quality of sleep was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and quality of life (QoL) was measured using the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short Form (SF-36) in 115 HD patients. One hundred (87%) patients were "poor sleepers" (global PSQI ≥5). The SF-36 mental component summary and physical component summary (PCS) scores were higher than 50 only in 43% and 32% of the subjects, respectively. No significant differences were found in QoL and sleep according to the patient's gender, presence of diabetes and time on HD. Correlation between total SF-36 score and global PSQI was statistically significant (r = -0.227, P <0.05). Poor sleep is common in dialysis patients and is associated with lower QoL, especially with mental health component of life quality.