Psychometric Properties of the Kidney Disease Quality of Life 36-Item Short-Form Survey (KDQOL-36) in the United States

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services require that dialysis patients’ health-related quality of life be assessed annually. The primary instrument used for this purpose is the Kidney Disease Quality of Life 36-Item Short-Form Survey (KDQOL-36), which includes the SF-12 as its generic core and 3 kidney disease–targeted scales: Burden of Kidney Disease, Symptoms and Problems of Kidney Disease, and Effects of Kidney Disease. Despite its broad use, there has been limited evaluation of KDQOL-36’s psychometric properties.