Identifying the symptom clusters of paatients on dialysis treatment

This study is carried out in order to identify the symptoms and symptom clusters in patients receiving dialysis treatment. This descriptive and cross-sectional research was done in the dialysis units of Baskent University Ankara and Istanbul Hospitals. Total of 300 patients who are diagnosed at least 6 months ago as having chronic kidney failure and continue dialysis treatment programme were constituted the samples of the research.Data were collected via using questionnaire form based on the literature and Dialysis Symptom Index. Data were gathered by the researcher by interviewing face to face. Data were analyzed by using SPSS (Statistical Package For Social Science) 15.0; descriptive statistics, one wayanalysis ofvariance, Mann-Whitney U test and cluster analysis tests were used.It is found that the average age of those participating in the research is 49±15.7, mean time of undergoing dialysis is 96.6±76,3 months and almost half of them (% 41.7) were having another concomitant illness.It is seen that the most common symptoms in patients participating in the research are feeling tired or decrease in energy (%56), bone pain or arthralgia (%48.7), loss of appetite (%47), headache (43.0) and Numbness or tingling in feet (42.3) and they stated that these symptoms were impactedthem a lot.Three main clusters are determined as a result of cluster analysis. The first main cluster includes symptoms of decrease in interest in sexual intercourse, having difficulty in achieving sexual satisfaction, restless legs, tingling in feet, swelling in legs, dryness in skin, itching, difficulty in maintaining sleep, difficulty in falling asleep, feeling nervous, feeling uneasy, coughing, dryness of the mouth, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, chest pain, getting worried, feeling sad, shortness of breath, dizziness, constipation, muscle cramps, feeling nervousand loss of appetite. The second main cluster includes the symptoms of headache, muscle pain and difficulty in concentrating. The main third cluster includes the symptoms of bone pain or arthralgia and feeling tired or decrease in energy.Based on these results, taking into consideration in planning the relationship among the symptoms, further studies to explore long-term changes symptoms and symptom clusters and its association with clinical variable sover symptom clusters can be suggested.Key words: Dialysis, Symptom, Symptom Clusters, Symptom Assessment.