Association of Gait Speed with Quality of Life in End-Stage Renal Disease Patients with Uremic Pruritus
Keywords:
Gait speed, quality of life, uremic pruritis, End-stage renal diseaseAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To find the association of gait speed with SF-36 scores in ESRD patients and the association of gait speed in MHD in the presence of uremic pruritus.
METHODOLOGY: We conducted a cross-sectional study in the Department of Nephrology, DHQTH, Dera Ismail Khan, from April to July 2025. Inclusion criteria were the presence of end-stage renal disease and a minimum duration of hemodialysis of six months. Patients under 18 years of age and those with pruritus due to non-uremic causes were excluded. The study sample comprised 86 patients receiving MHD, with (n=44) or without (n=42) uremic pruritus, who met the study criteria through a convenience sampling technique. We collected information about demography, ESRD phenotype, and gait speed. We evaluated QOL using the SF-36 questionnaire, which assesses various physical and mental health aspects. We analyzed all data using GraphPad Prism version 8.4.
RESULTS: Patients with uremic pruritus exhibited lower SF-36 scores for physical functioning, role physical, bodily pain, general health, social functioning, and role emotional than non-pruritic patients (all p<0.05). These patients also had lower gait speed than their non-pruritic counterparts (p<0.05). Correlation analysis revealed modest to robust associations of gait speed with physical functioning, general health, role emotional, and mental health (all p<0.05), which were stronger in pruritic than in non-pruritic patients.
CONCLUSION: Collectively, uremic pruritus was associated with lower gait speed, QOL, and a robust interface between gait speed and QOL. Future studies should formulate interventions to improve gait speed and QOL in ESRD patients with uremic pruritus.
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