Pre-dialysis clinic attendance improves quality of life among hemodialysis patients.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although previous research has demonstrated that referral to pre-dialysis clinics is associated with favourable objective outcomes, the benefit of a pre-dialysis clinic from the perspective of patient-perceived subjective outcomes, such as quality of life (QOL), is less well defined.

Methods

A retrospective incident cohort study was conducted to determine if pre-dialysis clinic attendance was a predictor of better QOL scores measured within the first six months of hemodialysis (HD) initiation. Inclusion criteria were HD initiation from January 1 1998 to January 1 2000, diagnosis of chronic renal failure, and completion of the QOL questionnaire within six months of HD initiation. Patients receiving HD for less than four weeks were excluded. An incident cohort of 12

SUBMITTER: White CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC103666 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature