Quality of Life and Its Sociodemographic and Clinical Predictors Among Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background/Objectives: Assessing quality of life (QOL) provides insight into how end-stage kidney disease and hemodialysis affect patients’ lives and well-being. This study assessed QOL among patients receiving hemodialysis in Saudi Arabia and examined associations with sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 150 patients with chronic kidney disease receiving hemodialysis at a medical city in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Data were collected on age, gender, nationality, marital status, educational level, income, duration of illness, and duration of hemodialysis. QOL was assessed using the Arabic version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF). Independent-samples t-tests and one-way analysis of variance examined associations, while multiple linear regression identified independent predictors of QOL. Results: Younger participants had higher scores in the physical (p < 0.001) and psychological (p = 0.030) domains and in overall QOL perception (p = 0.025), whereas middle-aged and older participants reported higher social-domain scores (p = 0.046). Participants with a university degree had higher scores across all QOL domains, overall QOL perception, and general health perception (p < 0.05). Patients receiving hemodialysis for ≥5 years had significantly lower scores across all domains than those with shorter dialysis durations (p < 0.001). Multiple linear regression revealed that higher educational attainment independently predicted higher scores across all four domains: physical (p = 0.008), psychological (p < 0.001), social (p = 0.004), and environmental (p < 0.001). Additionally, older age (p = 0.027) and longer hemodialysis duration (p = 0.027) were negative independent predictors of physical QOL, while gender (p = 0.003) and longer hemodialysis duration (p = 0.033) were independently associated with social QOL. Conclusions: The physical domain had the lowest mean score, whereas the social domain had the highest. Educational level positively predicted QOL across all domains. Longer hemodialysis duration independently predicted lower physical and social QOL. Age negatively predicted physical QOL, and gender independently predicted social QOL.