Quality of life of children and adolescents with chronic kidney disease: a cross-sectional study

The aim was to compare quality of life (QoL) among children and adolescents with different stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and determine factors associated with changes in QoL.Cross-sectional.The Kids with CKD study involved five of eight paediatric nephrology units in Australia and New Zealand.There were 375 children and adolescents (aged 6-18 years) with CKD, on dialysis or transplanted, recruited between 2013 and 2016.Overall and domain-specific QoL were measured using the Health Utilities Index 3 score, with a scale from -0.36 (worse than dead) to 1 (perfect health). QoL scores were compared between CKD stages using the Mann-Whitney U test. Factors associated with changes in QoL were assessed using multivariable linear and ordinal logistic regression.QoL for those with CKD stages 1-2 (n=106, median 0.88, IQR 0.63-0.96) was higher than those on dialysis (n=43, median 0.67, IQR 0.39-0.91,