There were 43 patients (17 men and 26 women, aged 55.2 ± 12.31 years old) undergoing long-term maintenance thrice weekly HD therapy recruited in this study. Patients answered the Kidney Disease Quality of Life questionnaire (KDQOL-SF TM ) which includes the SF-36 (8 dimensions/36 items): physical functioning (10 items), role limitations caused by physical problems (4 items), role limitations caused by emotional problems (3 items), pain (2 items), general health perceptions (5 items), social functioning (2 items), emotional well-being (5 items), energy/fatigue (4 items), and 1 item about health status compared to one year ago; kidney-disease-targeted items (11dimensions/43 items); symptom/problem list (12 items), effects of kidney disease (8 items), burden of kidney disease (4 items), cognitive function (3 items), quality of social interaction (3 items), sexual function (2 items), sleep (4 items), social support (2 items), work status (2 items), overall health rating ( 1 item scored separately),
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