Differences Between Quality of Life in Children with Infrequent and Frequent Relapse of Nephrotic Syndrome

Nephrotic syndrome is a common disease in children. The syndrome consists of massive proteinuria, hypoalbuminemia, edema and hypercholesterolemia which may lead to relapse and remission episodes, thus affect child’s quality of life. The objective was to determine the quality of life difference between children with infrequent and frequent relapse of nephrotic syndrome. This study was an observational analytic study with cross-sectional design, conducted at the Pediatric outpatient clinic in Sanglah Hospital, Denpasar, Indonesia, from January 2016 to January 2017. Independent t-test was performed to assess quality of life differences in patients with infrequent and frequent relapse of nephrotic syndrome, with significancy level p <0.05 and precision set at 95% confidence interval. The quality of life in children was measured by PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales Questionnaire. Subjects consisted of 14 infrequent relapse samples and 14 frequent relapse samples. The average scores of quality of life in children based on their parents’ reports were 85.70 (8.96) from infrequent relapse group and 82.24 (12.56) from the frequent relapse group (p=0.410). Meanwhile, based on the children’s report, the quality of life score were 88.79 (9.30) from infrequent relapse group and 82.59 (12.09) from frequent relapse group (p=0.194). This study concluded that there was no significant difference of physical, emotional, social, school functions subscale scores and quality of life score based on children and parents’ reports in both groups.