Quality of Life of End-stage Renal Failure Patients Receiving Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis

Quality of life is an important attribute of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) therapy and it has not, to our knowledge, been studied before in our country. This study describes how 87 patients 45 in endstage renal failure treated conservatively (25 males and 20 females, mean age 59.5 ± 11.9) and 42 on CAPD (24 males and 18 females, mean age 58.5 ± 11.6) perceived their own quality of life. They were all interviewed using the original questionnaire generating fifteen life quality variables: marital status and family relations, employment status, working ability, tiring, sleep, appetite, endurement of cold, wound healing, travelling, sports, socializing, sexual activity, mood, home maintenance, happiness. Differences between groups were assessed with chi-squared test (χ) correction by Mood, Student's t-test and McNemar's test. The results obtained show statistically significant improvement in working ability (p < 0,05) and in tiring (p < 0,05) in CAPD patients compared to those in end-stage renal failure treated conservatively. Positive influence of CAPD treatment was not impressive as expected due to the fact that in our country this treatment modality is still mostly used in old people and people suffering from serious systemic diseases whose general status is already so heavily impaired even before the start of the treatment that it can not be easily repaired.