# The aim of the present multicenter study was to assess quality of life of Dutch dialysis patients 3 months after the start of chronic dialysis treatment. The quality of life was compared with the quality of life of a general population sample, and the impact of demographic, clinical, renal function, and dialysis characteristics on patients' quality of life was studied. New end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients who were started on chronic hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis in 13 dialysis centers in The Netherlands were consecutively included. Patients' self-assessment of quality of life was measured by the SF-36, a 36-item Short Form Health Survey Questionnaire encompassing eight dimensions: physical functioning, social functioning, role-functioning physical, role-functioning emotional, mental health, vitality, bodily pain, and general health perceptions. One hundred twenty hemodialysis and 106 peritoneal dialysis patients completed the SF-36. Quality of life of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients was substantially impaired in comparison to the general population sample, particularly with respect to role-functioning physical and general health perceptions. Mean role-functioning physical and general health perceptions scores of the hemodialysis patients corre sponded with the lowest scoring 8% and 12%, respectively, of the reference group. Mean role-functioning physical and general health perceptions scores of the peritoneal dialysis patients corresponded with the lowest scoring 10% and 12%, respectively, of the reference group. Hemodialysis patients showed tower levels of quality of life than peritoneal dialysis patients on physical functioning, role-functioning emotional, mental health, and pain. However, on the multivariate level, we could only demonstrate an impact of dialysis modality on mental health.

Dialysate solute removal was an independent predictor of mortality. The association between systolic blood pressure and mortality shows that the maintenance of fluid balance and the removal of small solutes deserve equal attention.

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The in situ intraperitoneal volume and the mass transfer area coefficients (MTC) of urea, lactate, creatinine, glucose, kanamycin, inulin, beta 2-microglobulin, albumin and IgG were studied in eight continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients. All patients were studied during a 4-h dialysis dwell, first during peritonitis and subsequently after recovery from the infection. The maximal intraperitoneal volume was reached at 68 min during peritonitis and at 150 min in the study after recovery (P less than 0.01), suggesting increased water transport during the infection. For all investigated solutes MTCs were higher in the presence of peritonitis than after recovery. This increase was most marked for the proteins (greater than 100%). The power curve relationships between MTCs and molecular weight indicated that peritoneal transport of the low- and middle-molecular weight solutes was determined by free diffusion and that the infection-induced rise was due to an increase in effective surface area. For protein transport restricted diffusion was found. The increase of this transport during peritonitis was probably caused by both a larger effective surface area and a higher vascular permeability.