Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among hemodialysis (HD) patients recently became a nephrologist’s focus of
interest. HRQoL is an important predictor of outcome in HD patients and need to be regularly assessed. The aim of the
present study was to compare the HRQoL of chronic HD patients with general population and to analyze influencing
sociodemographic and clinical factors. We included 255 prevalent HD patients from four dialysis centers. HRQoL was
measured with The Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 Health Survey Questionnaire (SF-36). This data were compared
with control group (N=132) from the general Croatian population. Comparisons of SF-36 scale scores of HD patients
regarding demographic and clinical factors (age, gender, education level, dialysis vintage and diabetes) were also
performed and analyzed with a multivariate regression analysis. HRQoL in prevalent HD patients was relatively low
(mean Physical Component Summary, PCS=33.7, mean Mental Component Summary,MCS=43.0) and was lower compared
to the control group from the general population in all HRQoL domains, PCS and MCS scores. Almost 53% of the
HD patients had the critical score PCS<43 + MCS<51 as the predictor of death and hospitalization. Better HRQoL was
revealed in the patients <65 years old, males, patients with higher educational level and in the patients on maintenance
HD less than one year. Age was the only statistically significant predictor of PCS and MCS. Developments of HD technology,
treatment of comorbidities, continuous patients’ education, social and psychological support and use of other renal
replacement modalities, especially kidney transplantation, may improve the HRQoL in these patients
