Health-related quality of life assessment in chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease affects over ten million Americans. Most severely affected patients undergo dialysis or transplantation at high economic and human cost. Each year, 70,000 Americans die from causes related to kidney failure. Health-related quality of life has been an important area of investigation. Recent advances include the development of new instruments that better distinguish among treatment modalities and differing patient populations. This article provides a brief state-of-the-art review of health-related quality of life instruments in chronic kidney disease, describes issues affecting patients, factors associated with decreased health-related quality of life and summarizes studies of health-related quality of life in this population. It concludes with our recommendations for further work and a look at what the future might hold.