| Theme |
Measuring Health-Related QOL : A new endpoint for clinical |
| Title |
Dialysis patient QOL : An attempt to use SF-36 |
| Author |
Ichiro Takai |
Daiko Medical Center, The University of Nagoya |
| Author |
Takahiro Shinzato |
Daiko Medical Center, The University of Nagoya |
| Author |
Kenji Maeda |
Daiko Medical Center, The University of Nagoya |
| Author |
Shunichi Fukuhara |
The University of Tokyo, Faculty of Medicine |
| [ Summary ] |
With the establishment of therapeutic techniques for the care of dialysis patients, with virtually standardized therapies for chronic renal failure patients currently being in place, the targets most emphasized are not only life prolongation but of maintenance and enhancement of QOL (quality of life) while alive. As a means of evaluating QOL in a relatively international setting, we devised a QOL survey using an SF-36 questionnaire allowing international comparison, which has been well received in various countries. The QOL scores of dialysis patients using the SF-36 were low in comparison to the national standard, and it was suggested that dialysis patients themselves actually perceived the decrease in their health and the accompanying restricitons in their daily lives. One is left with the impression that with the introduction of rHuEPO the QOL of dialysis patients impr oved, but there are reports of objective QOL surveys using SF-36. These reports indicate that, following rHuEPO administration, there was some improvement over the pre administration levels in certain SF-36 evaluation indices, reflecting a quantitative improvement in QOL. |