The Relationship of Physiological factors and Fatigue in Elderly Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between Physiological factors and fatigue in elderly predialysis patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). The subjects of the study were 136 elders over 65 years of age who visited the nephrology outpatient department of a tertiary hospital in Seoul between December 24 and December 31, 2012 and consented to participate in the study. The physiological factors included hemoglobin, albumin, karnofsky performance scale (KPS) and glomerular filtration rates (GFRs). The data were analyzed using the SPSS v.12.0 program. There were negative correlations between fatigue and hemoglobin, albumin, KPS and GFRs. In addition, gender, age, hemoglobin, albumin and KPS predicted value accounted for 43.7% of the variance on fatigue. As a conclusion of these findings, it has been recommended that these variables should be considered when planning an approach towards managing the fatigue in elderly predialysis patients with CKD.