QUALITY-OF-LIFE ASSESSMENT IN END-STAGE RENAL-DISEASE

A short study of the literature on quality-of-life assessment in end-stage renal disease was conducted. Major problems are the nonrandom allocation of patients to the different treatment modalities, the wide range of treatments and the lack of validity of quality-of-life measures in the specific treatment groups. Although the assessment instruments are not yet perfect in all aspects, quality-of-life assessment should play a more important role in the allocation of patients to the various high-cost treatment modalities.