Illness Perception and Health-Related Quality of Life among Haemodialysis Patients

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a common issue in end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. However not many studies focused on HRQoL and its impact on illness perception in Malaysia. The aim of this study was to determine whether illness perception was related to quality of life among end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients undergoing chronic haemodialysis (HD) treatment. A total of 183 HD patients completed the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R) and Short Form -36 (SF-36) to measure the quality of life. Results showed that eight components of illness perception (timeline, cyclical (nature), consequences, treatment control, illness coherence, emotional response and causes) were significantly correlated with the Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS). Three predictors for PCS and five predictors for MCS were also found. Thus this study demonstrated that illness perception plays a significant role in HRQoL. In future health authorities and healthcare workers should prioritize research into illness perception for patient interventions to enhance HRQoL in these patients.