Quality of Life of patients with chronic kidney disease in Iran: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Introduction: Renal diseases are among the major health problems around the world that cause major changes in patients' lifestyle and affect their quality of lives. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Iran through a meta-analysis.

Materials and Methods: This study was conducted using authentic Persian and English keywords in the national and international databases including IranMedex, SID, Magiran, IranDoc, Medlib, Science Direct, Pubmed, Scopus, Cochrane, Embase, Web of Science, and Medline. The data were analyzed using meta-analysis (random effects model). Heterogeneity of studies was assessed using I2 index. In this study, SF-36: 36-Item Short Form health-related quality of life (HRQOL), kidney disease quality of life-SF (KDQOL-SF), KDQOL and KDQOL-SFTM questionnaires were used. Data were analyzed using STATA Version 11 software.

Results: A total of 17200 individuals participated in 45 reviewed studies, and the mean score of CKD patients' quality of life was estimated by SF-36 (60.31), HRQOL (60.51), and KDQOL-SF (50.37) questionnaires. In addition, meta-regression showed that the mean score of CKD patients' quality of life did not significantly decrease during the past years.

Conclusion: The mean score of quality of life of patients with CKD was lower in different dimensions in comparison with that of normal people. Therefore, interventional measures should be taken to improve the quality of life of these patients in all dimensions.