The Psychological Impact of Hemodialysis on Patients with Chronic Renal Failure

Renal disease is common throughout the world. In the United States alone, almost 100,000 people began renal replacement therapy (RRT) for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in 2001(Kimmel & Peterson, 2005); by 2008, this number had increased to 485,000 patients (Collins et al., 2009). More than 90% of these patients were started on hemodialysis (HD), while only 8.5% began RRT with peritoneal dialysis (PD)(Kimmel & Peterson, 2005). In Korea, the number of dialysis centers and machines has continuously increased, and 62.1% of patients receiving RRT were being treated with HD (Son et al., 2009). An international comparison showed that Taiwan has the greatest incidence and second-greatest prevalence of ESRD (Kuo et al., 2007). Furthermore, renal disease is one of the top 10 causes of death in Taiwan, and roughly 95% of ESRD patients are on HD (Hsieh et al., 2007).