Author(s): Samuel N Uwaezuoke and Vivian U Muoneke
This review aims to highlight the increasing importance of Health-related Quality of Life assessment in the management of children with early and late stages of chronic kidney disease. The growing interest in using Health-related Quality of Life assessment is attributed to the more active role of the patients and their expressed interest in the nonclinical aspects of treatment such as Quality of Life. Several measures of Health-related Quality of Life are now used in research and clinical practice to evaluate treatment options and make therapeutic decisions. Despite the technological advances in renal replacement therapy which have resulted in increased survival rates for children with Stage 5 chronic kidney disease (end-stage renal disease), the burden and complexity of care impacts negatively on their Quality of Life. Studies reviewed in this article show that children with end-stage renal disease receiving renal replacement therapy, as well as those with early stages of chronic kidney disease had significantly lower Healthrelated Quality of Life scores when compared with healthy controls. As a therapeutic guide to the clinician, appropriate and timely interventions may result in better Quality of Life outcomes in the fundamental domains. Although Health-related Quality of Life assessment is seen as a reliable adjunct in managing children with chronic kidney disease, the major challenge remains convincing more clinicians to apply this assessment beyond clinical trials as many of them still depend on physiologic measures in the clinical setting.