OBJECTIVES: To compare health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) in patients on hemodialysis (HD) and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) in a tertiary hospital in China. METHODS: From September 2004 to January 2005, adult patients on HD or CAPD for at least 6 months were recruited with clinical and HRQoL data collected by medical records review and patient survey. Patients’ HRQoL was assessed by KDQOL-SF including SF-36 as the generic and 11 disease-specific domains with higher scores indicating better HRQoL. RESULTS: Eighty-six patients [50 on CAPD and 36 on standard HD (3x4-hour weekly)] were included for the analysis, with 55% male and a mean age of 57.7±15.6 years. No differences were found in age, sex, education, payment method, income, originating disease, haemoglobin level, and dialysis time between HD and CAPD. CAPD patients had a higher score (SD) compared to HD patients for Effects of Kidney Disease (EKD: 55.1(15.8) vs. 40.8(10.2), p<.0001), Symptom/Problem List (SPL: 67.8(12.6) vs. 59.5(7.7), p= 0.0005), Quality of Social Interaction (QSI: 65.0(13.9) vs. 58.1(9.1), p= 0.006) and Patient Satisfaction (PS: 70.0(12.1) vs. 60.7(13.3), p=0.001). CAPD group vs. HD also had higher scores on Body Pain (BP: 60.2(14.2) vs. 45.4(18.1), p= 0.0003), General Health (GH: 33.6 (15.1) vs. 26.7(11.7), p=0.03), Role-Emotional (RE: 61.4(25.5) vs. 41.7(33.2), p=0.002) and Mental Health (MH: 67.3(14.0) vs. 55.3(19.4), p= 0.002) from SF-36 assessment. Controlling for key factors/covariates, CAPD patients still showed better scores comparing to HD patients in EKD, SPL, PS, BP, RE and MH. Older age, lower haemoglobin level and originating disease of hypertension were shown to be associated with lower scores of certain dimensions compared to their counterparts, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: CAPD patients showed better HRQoL in EKD, SPL, PS, BP, RE and MH than HD patients in this study population. The findings may help understand HRQoL burden and influential factors among dialysis patients.