Quality of life of patients on hemodialysis: integrative review

Introduction: Renal failure is a syndromic, progressive and irreversible diagnosis related to the loss of blood clearance capacity. Objective: To analyze the scientific evidence on the quality of life of patients with chronic renal failure on hemodialysis treatment. Methodology: Integrative review conducted in the databases Índice Bibliográfico de Ciências da Saúde, Base de Dados de Enfermagem, Scientific Electronic Library Online and Literatura Latino Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde. The sample consisted of 21 primary studies, published between the years 2014 to 2019, without language delimitation. The analysis was descriptive and the results were presented in two categories. Results: There was a predominance of cross-sectional designs, level of evidence 2C, developed in Brazil and published in 2019. It was evidenced that during hemodialysis there can be significant impairment of the different dimensions that constitute quality of life, in addition to changes in sexual activities and the high prevalence of emotional reactions resulted in greater life impacts. Among the associated factors, sociodemographic, clinical and therapeutic aspects were determinants of the degree of impairment and affected dimensions. Conclusion: Hemodialysis had negative impacts on the quality of life of patients and contributed to a worse perception of health status.