Literature survey on QOL studies of Japanese hemodialysis patients

[Background] The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare has issued updated guidelines for controlling renal disease, which emphasize the importance of the QOL of CKD patients, including dialysis patients. However, there is no unified method for evaluating dialysis patients’ QOL. We conducted a literature survey in order to clarify the current status of QOL studies of dialysis patients. [Methods] We searched the Japan Medical Abstracts Society database using the keywords hemodialysis, QOL, and quality of life, and then investigated QOL-related content and evaluation scales. [Results] Seventy-seven of 489 matching reports were selected for the survey. QOL studies were classified into two types, comprehensive QOL evaluations (n=53) and symptom-specific evaluations, such as evaluations of fatigue (n=4), pruritus (n=10), sleep disorders (n=9), and digestive symptoms (n=5), and psychological evaluations (n=13). In accordance with the focus of each study, 8 and 42 types of scales were used for the comprehensive and symptom-specific evaluations, respectively. [Conclusion] QOL studies involving Japanese dialysis patients have examined a diverse range of issues, and various types of QOL scales have been used for such studies. In order to allow inter-study comparisons, it will be necessary to standardize the evaluation tools that are used for such QOL studies.