[Knowledge and quality of life in chronic kidney disease and peritoneal dialysis].

Background: Knowledge of one's own chronic kidney disease (CKD) can improve long-term quality of life (QoL). Peritoneal dialysis presents with residual symptoms that reduce the QoL.

Objective: To correlate knowledge of the disease and QoL in patients with CKD and on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD).

Material and methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional, and prospective study was carried out in patients with CKD treated at a second-level hospital of the Mexican Institute for Social Security (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social) in Puebla. SF-36 and KiKS questionnaires were applied. Age, sex, education, marital status, perception of QoL, and level of knowledge were recorded. Descriptive statistics and Spearman's coefficient were used.

Results: 199 patients with CKD in CAPD were included, 62.8% women, minimum age range was 18 to 20 years with 4% and maximum of 61 years or more with 49.2%, 35.6% of patients completed primary school, and 65.3% were married. The most frequent comorbidity was diabetes (57.2%). The least affected QoL domain was pain. KiKS recorded a mean of 0.54 (regular knowledge about the disease). It was recorded a weak and significant correlation in the QoL domains: physical health, physical role, pain, general health, mental health (p ≤ 0.05).

Conclusions: There is a significant but weak correlation between the perception of QoL and the level of knowledge of the disease in CKD patients with CAPD.