Quality of Life in Patients undergoing Kidney Dialysis

The kidneys are bean shaped organs that serve several essential roles in humans. The most important function of the kidneys is to remove wastes from the body. When the kidneys do not work as well as they should, the wastes in the body are not removed and it's harmful for the body. This condition can be treated by dialysis wherein accumulated waste is removed from the patients' body either by Hemodialysis (HD) or Peritoneal dialysis (PD). On an average 2,53,050 patients undergo dialysis every month in India (Indian Society of Nephrology, 2009.). The present research investigated upon the impact of dialysis on quality of life of 120 patients. One of the sub-scales of the Kidney Disease Quality of Life Short Form (KDQOL SF) {ESRD- Targeted Areas} (1997) had been employed for the purpose of data collection. The results were statistically analysed using a 2x2 ANOVA design, findings of the current research indicated that PD patients had significantly higher burden of disease related QOL as compared to HD patients. The males also exhibited higher burden of disease related QOL as compared to females. The PD patients had higher marital and sexual function related QOL than the HD patients.