Impact of Uraemic Pruritus on Quality of Life among End Stage Renal Disease Patients on Dialysis

Introduction: Uraemic pruritus is significant complication in (ESRD) patients and substantially impairs their quality of life (QOL). ESRD is a bothersome problem with attempts being made to increase the survival of patients on dialysis. Aim: An attempt was made to compare the QOL of haemodialysis patients and suffering from uraemic pruritus with the QOL of those on haemodialysis but with no presenting uraemic pruritus. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the QOL of haemodialysis patients suffering from uraemic pruritus. The WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire was used to assess the QOL. Haemodialysis patients with pruritus who had completed three months of maintenance haemodialysis (n=100) were enrolled into the study and 100 controls (n=100) on haemodialysis but with no pruritus were further enrolled. Results: The QOL of haemodialysis patients with pruritus was found to be significantly impaired (p < 0.05) in comparison to those on haemodialysis with no prutitis, particularly with respect to all the four WHOQOL-BREF domains. Conclusion: Quality of life of ESRD patients on dialsysis was siginificantly affected by pruritis.