Social support and health-related quality of life in black and white dialysis patients.

OBJECTIVES: To identify factors associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients treated with dialysis, and to identify potential racial differences in HRQoL.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SAMPLE/SETTINGS: 256 dialysis patients; 72 black women, 59 black men, 61 white women, and 64 white men at Piedmont Dialysis Center, a university-affiliated dialysis center in northwest North Carolina.
METHODS: Information was obtained on perceived social support, social networks, blood chemistries, blood pressure, cause of renal failure, treatment-related factors, and socioeconomic factors. HRQoL indicators included two measures of life satisfaction, limitations in leisure-time activities, and Karnofsky's Physical Functioning Scale.
RESULTS: On all HRQoL indicators, blacks consistently rated their HRQoL better than whites. In univariate analyses, lack of social support was consistently related to poorer HRQoL. In multivariate regression analyses, good social support and black race were the two strongest predictors of more positive responses to each of the HRQoL indicators, after controlling for the effects of the other investigated factors. With respect to the Karnofsky scale, younger age and fewer medications taken were additional significant predictors of better functioning.
CONCLUSIONS: HRQoL was consistently rated better among blacks than among whites. In addition, perceived social support exerted a strong, independent influence on objectively and subjectively measured HRQoL of ESRD patients.