| Abstract: | Participants were 40 persons from a group of 44 end‐stage renal disease patients in southern Sweden who in 1985 received home hemodialysis under the auspices of a hospital renal unit, together with their spouses (n = 35). At a 10‐year follow‐up, 15 of the patients had died and 25 had survived. Univariate log rank tests of the influence of physical and demographic factors, the patient's dialysis‐linked complaints and the burdens of the illness indicated the most important predictors of 10‐year survival to be the patient's age, severity of the illness, the patient's dialysis‐linked complaints (notably that of itching), and the burdens of the patient's disease on the spouse (particularly burdens of a sexual character). Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
