Predictores psicosociales de la calidad de vida en pacientes con insuficiencia renal crónica en tratamiento de hemodiálisis

objectives: to assess health-related quality of life (hrqol) of chronic renal failure patients undergoing dialysis replacement therapy, and to evaluate the predictive power of psychosocial variables (social support, self-efficacy, optimistic outlook, depression, anxiety and coping strategies) on the different levels of hrqol. methods: we evaluated the hrqol of 39 haemodialysis patients using the sf-36 instrument. the predictive ability of the evaluated variables was analysed using bivariate correlations and multiple regression analysis. results: patients showed lower levels of hrqol than the reference values for the instrument. depression is the main predictor of hrqol, associated negatively with all of its components. the degree of concern and the use of passive coping strategies for stress such as helplessness-hopelessness and fatalism are also associated with lower levels of hrqol. by contrast, self-efficacy, optimism, social support, and fighting spirit were associated with higher levels of hrqol. conclusions: these results have clear clinical implications regarding the ways in which psychological interventions should be aimed at improving hrqol in renal patients.