Abstract:
Quality of life (QOL) has become increasingly important as an outcome measure in the evaluation of
dialysis treatments. This cross sectional study was performed to assess the QOL of patients
undergoing dialysis treatment and asscoiated factors while focusing satisfaction on care. Interveiwer
administered questionnaire was administered among 80 patients at Dialysis Unit, Teaching Hospital
Karapitiya. Mean (SD) age was 48 years (11.50), 70% was male and 87.5% had undergone
hemodialysis. Mean (SD) scores for physical, psychological, social and environmental domains were
43.04 (14.55), 52.14 (15.75), 59.06 (10.62) and 66.88 (5.76) respectively. Gender, marital status and
type of dialysis were not signifcantly associated (p>0.05) with the QOL of dialysis patients. There was
a significant difference between educational levels and average scores of physical domain (p=0.03),
social domain (p=0.02) and environmental domain (p=0.002) except psychological domain (p=0.07).
There was a significant difference between monthly income and psychological domain (p=0.01), social
domain (p=0.001) and environmental domain (p=0.001). Such difference of QOL was not observed
among different age groups except social domain(p=0.02). The particpants’ satisfaction on health care
services and family support was had at a higher grade (98.8% with health care services, 91.3% with
the family support). Current study revealed that dialysis treatment directly affected the QOL mainly
on physical and psychological domains and non modifiable factors such as age, level of education and
monthly income were significantly affected their QOL. The support provided by the health care team
and family members is greater for them during the treatment process. Dialysis treatment is
significantly affetected to the QOL of patients although they have family support and health care
services at optimum level. Therefore,the enhancement of QOL of dialysis patients should be focused
on palliative care including both physical and psychological aspects as there is no such effect on
modifying the sociodemographic status.
