Psychosocial Factors Linked to Health Related Quality of Life in Hemodialysis Patients

Objective: To analyze the relationship between the variables age, time in treatment, gender, perceived family support, mental health, perceived health status and quality of life (QoL). Method: We studied 128 patients in Public Hospital and a private dialysis center, both in the city of Antofagasta. We used the questionnaire for kidney disease 36 (TM) KDQOL-36 (TM), the Apgar Family and GHQ-28. We evaluated the relationship between each dimension of the QoL and the factors mentioned. Outcomes: No relationship was found between the QoL and time living with the disease, gender and age. The several dimensions of mental health is assessed to have a greater correlation with the dimensions of quality of life. Conclusions: Mental health is a modulator of the QoL, while others such as gender, length of dialysis and the age of the participants were not factors relevant to this assessment.