[Quality of life in chronic renal insufficiency: the effect of disease development and various method of therapy].

The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of development and way of treatment of chronic renal failure on patient's life style. Health related quality of life aspects were studied in 47 persons (26 males and 21 females), age range from 21 to 76 years. They were classified in six groups: early (clearance of creatinine more than 50 ml/min-2 males, 3 females, age 25-65), overt (clearance of creatinine between 20 and 50 ml/min-4 males, 5 females, age 28-67) and final (clearance of creatinine less than 20 ml/min-6 males, 4 females, age 27-76) stage of the disease, on haemodialysis (6 males, 4 females, age 21-67), treated with recombinant human erythropoietin and haemodialysis (4 males, 4 females, age 30-65), and after transplantation (4 males, 1 females, age 28-57). Life style has been determined by an original questionnaire consisting of 37 questions divided in five groups: personal data, socio-demographic characteristics, health status, personal life and subjective evaluation of patient's current status. Sixteen life quality variables were investigated: marital status, family relations, working status, working ability, sleep, physical activities, appetite, wound healing, hobby, sports, friendships, sexual activity, mood, travelling, housework and happiness. The results have shown that the progression of the disease has negative influence on all life functions, with statistically significant differences between the early and overt stage patients concerning physical activities, appetite, travelling and sexual activity. Significant improvements were demonstrated in social activities and working ability after transplantation compared with patients in end-stage renal disease and those undergoing haemodialysis, while haemodialysis showed positive influence only on appetite. Combination of haemodialysis and erythropoietin treatment demonstrated significant improvements in working ability, appetite, travelling, wound healing and physical abilities compared with all other patients, suggesting benefits of this treatment.