Background: Dialysis patients experience multiple symptoms impairing their quality of life. A relationship seems to exist
between the cultural context and the burden of symptoms. In this study, the prevalence and severity of 30 symptoms and their relationship with quality of life among hemodialysis patients in Switzerland is explored.
Methods: A cross-sectional correlation design was used with a convenience sample of 119 patients from five dialysis units. Presence and severity of symptoms were assessed with the Dialysis Symptom Index and quality of life with the WHOQOL-Bref questionnaire. Multivariate linear regressions were used to examine the relationship between the prevalence and severity of symptoms, respectively, and quality of life. T-tests and Fisher’s tests were used for the international comparisons