Abstract
Introduction: Dispositional optimism is a personality trait significantly associated with the use of positive adaptive coping strategies as well as with perceived psychological and physical well-being, and it appears to be an important predictor of illness. Objectives: To analyse if dispositional optimism is significantly associated with the number of hospital admissions of our chronic haemodialysis patients, as well as its relationship with perceived state of health. Methods: We studied 239 patients on chronic haemodialysis. Patients were categorised into two groups according to the variables: hospital admissions/no, of admissions in the last year and dispositional optimism (DO). We used the following variables and questionnaires: 1) Dispositional O/P using the Spanish-validated cross-cultural adaptation of the revised version of the Life Orientation Test (LOT-R) (Scheier, 1994): higher scores mean a higher degree of dispositional optimism. 2) Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) using the different aspects of the COOP/WONCA (CW) charts and its total score. In this case higher scores mean lower HRQoL. 3) Modified Charlson Comorbidity Index (mCCI). 4) Age, gender, and time on dialysis. Results: Mean age was 64.8 +/- 14.3 years; median time on dialysis 2.9 years (range: 0-32); and median LOT-R 21 (range 6-30). Patients considered DO had a lower risk of hospital admissions than pessimists (DP) (OR: 0.55; IC 95%: 0.32-0.94; P <.05). PD Patients that were admitted in the last year showed a significantly lower score on LOT-R (they were more pessimistic) than those that had no hospital admissions (19.4 +/- 5.7 vs 22.3 +/- 4.6; P=.001). We found no significant differences between admitted and not admitted patients in age, gender, time on haemodialysis and comorbidity. Admitted patients showed worse HRQoL (higher scores in total CW) than those that were not (Total CW: 22.37 vs 19.42; P <.001). PD patients had significantly higher scores than OD patients in all COOP-WONCA aspects except in aspect 1 (physical fitness) and 5 (change in health). Conclusions: Pessimistic personality trait is significantly associated with hospital admissions in chronic haemodialysis patients, regardless of age, gender and comorbidity. Optimistic patients perceived a better state of health.
