Quality of life of patients undergoing haemodialysis at Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, The Gambia

Background: Renal Replacement Therapies (RRTs) like haemodialysis only partially correct the symptoms experienced by a patient but provoke additional changes in his/her lifestyle. These changes can affect the Quality of life (QOL) of the patients. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to measure the quality of life of patients undergoing haemodialysis at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH), The Gambia Method: A cross-sectional study design was used. The Kidney Disease Quality of Life –Short Form (KDQOL-SF) questionnaire was adapted and used to collect data from 44 participants undergoing haemodialysis at the time of data collection. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 and t-test and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to determine the difference in the quality of life, among the patients in relation to their demographic variables. Results: The finding showed that the majority of the patients were female 30(68.2%) and the mean age was 43.3 years ranging from 20- 80 years. Hypertension was the major cause of renal failure (n=27; 61.4%) of the patients. The patients had a poor quality of life with a mean score of 34. 8%. Independent t-test shows that the Physical Composite Score (PCS), Mental Composite Score (MCS), and Kidney Disease Composite Score (KDCS) were all higher in males compared to females, with PCS being significant at a p-value of 0.007 and KDCS at a P-value of 0.01. The MCS was significantly higher among the unmarried patients at a p-value of 0.022 as well as for diabetes and hypertension compared to unknown causes of Kidney Conclusion: The low PCS, MCS, and KDCS among the patients receiving haemodialysis treatment in EFSTH indicate poor quality of life. Therefore, more efforts need to be done to improve the quality of life for these patients.