[Quality of life of hemodialysis patients before and after erythropoietin therapy. A double-blind, randomized, placebo controlled study].

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of rHu-EPO (recombinant human erythropoietin) comprizing 19 haemodialysis patients (rHu-EPO: n = 9, placebo: n = 10) the patients' opinion about the influence of the treatment on the quality of life was investigated. At the commencement of the trial and after eight weeks, a score was registered by means of a structured interview with a range of 0-10 concerning the complaints most frequently expressed by haemodialysis patients. Erythropoietin was effective in the treatment of renal anaemia. In the therapeutic group, the mean haematocrit value increased from 0.206 to 0.338 (p less than 0.0005), while no change in the haematocrit value was observed in the placebo group. In the therapeutic group, significant decreases were found in the interview scores for fatigue, vertigo (p less than 0.001), dyspnoea (p less than 0.0025), muscular weakness (p less than 0.01) and palpitations (p less than 0.05). No significant differences were found in the placebo group. The treatment had no serious side-effects. On the basis of this material, it is concluded that erythropoietin treatment of haemodialysis patients is effective and that a marked improvement in the quality of life can be observed already after treatment for eight weeks.