Review of studies on health related quality of life in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease in Spain.

Abstract

Advanced chronic kidney disease (ACKD) has a great impact on health-related quality of life (HRQL). The use of this variable in studies in our field is becoming more frequent, although there has been no comprehensive review of how Spaniards with ACKD are assessed. To offer a contrasted vision of the HRQL assessment tools that are most often used on Spanish ACKD population, also analysing how this population perceive their quality of life. A review was carried out on literature published on studies undertaken in Spain that had used some kind of instrument, either generic or specific, in order to measure HRQL in patients with different stages of ACKD. Studies in kidney transplant patients were excluded when they were independently reviewed. The research was carried out in CINAHL, CUIDEN, DOCUMED, EMBASE, ERIC (USDE), IME, LILACS, MEDLINE, Nursin@ovid, PubMed, Scielo, Web of Science and TESEO. 53 articles published between 1995 and May 2014 have been included in this review. Renal replacement therapy is the variable that is most often associated with the study of HRQL, with haemodialysis being the most studied. Most of the studies found are cross-sectional and the Short Form-36 Health Survey is the most used instrument. The majority of the studies show how HRQL is significantly affected in patients who receive renal replacement therapy. These results are independent from the instrument used to measure health-related quality of life and other associated variables throughout the various studies. HRQL has been particularly analysed in patients on haemodialysis, using mainly observational methods and the Short Form-36 Health Survey. There is a need for more studies that address aspects such as HRQL in the pre-dialysis phase, as well as studies with larger samples and longitudinal, analytical and experimental designs.