Journal of

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Background and Aim: Chronic renal failure is a clinical state which results in declining the kidney function. Chronic renal failure has numerous cutaneous manifestations, when the process of hemodialysis begins, new changes may appear as a result. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of cutaneous problems among patients with chronic renal failure undergoing hemodialysis in Bandar Abbas, Iran.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 60 patients with chronic renal failure under hemodialysis in Shahid Mohammadi Hospital Dialysis Center were examined by a dermatologist. The data were gathered and analyzed by SPSS software (version 16) using descriptive statistics, t and chi2 tests. P less than 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: The most common skin findings were dry skin (78.3%), followed by pallor (71.7%) and pruritus (58.3%). Other common cutaneous manifestations were half-half nail (35%), idiopathic guttate hypomelanosis (33.3%), yellowish skin color change (31.7%), subungal hyperkeratosis (30%), onycholysis (20%), beau's line (15%), cherry angioma (15%), skin hyperpigmentation (15%) and purpura (13.3%).
Conclusion: Chronic renal failure is associated with various cutaneous manifestations caused by hemodiaysis or the disease itself. The most common ones are dry skin and pallor. The early diagnosis of cutaneous changes may decrease the morbidity and eventually lead to quality of life improvement in these patients.

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Background and Aim: Pruritus is one of the most disabling complications in patients with chronic renal failure that have negative effect on patients' quality of life. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of the uremic pruritus and its associated factors in hemodialysis patients referred to the dialysis centers in Golestan Province.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all 375 patients referred to eight dialysis centers in Golestan Province were selected via census sampling method. Data were gathered by using demogeraphic and Yosipovitch pruritus questionnaires. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software through conducting t and chi square tests.

Results: The mean ± standard deviation of patients' age was 48.36 ± 13.27 years and 51.2% of patients were male. One hundred and eighty one (48.3%) patients had uremic pruritus. The lowest and highest frequency of pruritus among surveyed centers were 37.9% and 57.1%, respectively. 60.2 % of patients had localized pruritus and the most common location was back (68.8 %). There was a statistically significant correlation between uremic pruritus with number of dialysis session (P<0.001) and serum level of phosphorus (P<0.001). 

Conclusion: The results indicated that uremic pruritus is still one of the most common problems in hemodialysis patients. Therefore it seems necessary providing ways to eliminating or reducing the problem.

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Background and Aim: Pruritus is one of the most common problems of chronic kidney diseases. Different treatment modalities, while extending the life span of patients, can lead to changes in their lifestyle, health status and ultimately change their quality of life (QOL). Understanding the different aspects of patients' QOL leads to better services provided by health care teams to improve the patients' QOL. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life of hemodialysis patients with uremic pruritus in Mashhad in 1396 with a view to Iranian Medicine.

Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 52 patients. Data collection was done by the World Health Organization QOL and researcher-made demographic Questionnaire and SPSS 16 software was used for data analysis.

Results: The mean age of patients was 51.73 years and mean duration of dialysis was 41.42 months. Total score of life quality was 56. The lowest and highest scores were seen in physical and environmental dimensions. There was an inverse significant relationship between some aspects of QOL with hemoglobin and creatinine and a direct significant relationship with age, diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia (P<0.005).

Conclusion: Hemodialysis patients' QOL is lower than others and several factors can improve it. Special attention to the individual characteristics of hemodialysis patients can be helpful in predicting their basic needs.