The correlation between pruritus and xerosis with the quality of life of patients undergoing hemodialysis in Atma Jaya Hospital

Abstract

Pruritus and xerosis cutis are the most common symptoms of chronic kidney disease (CKD), of which the pathophysiology remains unclear to date. We conducted this study to assess the impact of these conditions on the quality of life of CKD patients who undergoing hemodialysis. This cross-sectional descriptive research studied 39 patients in the Hemodialysis Unit of Atma Jaya Hospital in August 2019. The pruritus and xerosis severity were assessed using the 5-D Pruritus Scale and Overall Dry Skin score (ODS). The DLQI questionnaire measured patients’ quality of life. All subjects had xerosis cutis, and 46.2% suffered pruritus. A strong significant positive correlation was found between pruritus and xerosis cutis scores with the degree of quality of life of the subjects (r = 0.923 and r = 0.620; p = 0.000). We concluded that the more severe pruritus and xerosis cutis would negatively impact CKD patients' quality of life undergoing hemodialysis. Keywords: DLQI, hemodialysis, quality of life, pruritus, xerosis