The health-related quality of life among patients on maintenance haemodialysis: Evaluation using the "EQ-5D"

Mediating effects of general self-efficacy on social support and quality of life in patients after surgical aortic valve replacement

AIM

To explore whether general self-efficacy can mediate the relationship between social support and quality of life in patients after surgical aortic valve replacement.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional design.

METHODS

The final analysis included 283 patients who underwent surgical aortic valve replacement from May 2021 to September 2021. They completed a set of questionnaires, including the Chinese version of the General Self-Efficacy Scale, the Chinese Questionnaire of Quality of life in Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases and the Social Support Rating Scale. The PROCESS Macro in SPSS was used to analyse the mediating effect.

RESULTS

Quality of life and all of its dimensions were significantly related to social support and general self-efficacy. A significant indirect effect of social support existed through general self-efficacy in relation to quality of life with the mediation effect ratio of 32.82%.

A multicenter descriptive analysis of anemia management in hemodialysis patients and its association with quality of life

BACKGROUND

Appropriate management of anemia in patients with hemodialysis (HD) involves the administration of iron supplementation and erythropoietin-stimulating agents (ESAs), in addition to monitoring the response. This study aimed to evaluate the treatment of anemia in patients with HD and describe the factors associated with it and its effect on health-related quality of life (HRQOL).

METHODS

The study was cross-sectional in design. The patients were included from three dialysis centers in Palestine from June to September 2018. The data collection instrument consisted of two portions; the initial portion contained demographic and clinical information on the patients, while the second consisted of the European Quality of Life 5-Dimension Scale (EQ-5D-5 L) and the visual analog scale EQ (EQ-VAS).

RESULTS

The study included 226 patients. Their mean age (± SD) was 57 ± 13.9 years. The mean level of hemoglobin (Hb) (± SD) was 10.63 ± 1.71 g/dl, and 34.1% of the patients had a Hb level of 10-11.5 g/dl. All patients who required iron supplementation received it intravenously with a dose of 100 mg of iron sucrose. Almost 86.7% of the patients received darbepoetin alfa intravenously at 0.45 mcg/kg a week, and 24% had a Hb level > 11.5 g/dl. There were significant associations between the level of Hb and the number of comorbid diseases and the ESA that was received. However, other demographics and clinical factors did not significantly affect Hb levels. Certain variables, such as exercise, were a predictor of a higher quality of life. It should be noted that there is a significant impact of a low Hb value on the EQ-VAS scale.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study found that more than half of the patients had a Hb level below the recommended goal of Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO). Furthermore, a significant association was found between patients' Hb level and HRQOL. Therefore, the appropriate treatment of anemia in patients with HD should be followed by adherence to the guideline recommendations, which consequently improves the HRQOL of HD patients, in addition to obtaining optimal therapy.