Introduction: End stage renal disease affects many aspects of the hemodialysis patients life, and finally affects their health relate quality of life .The aim of this study was comparison between the hemodialysis patients and healthy population in the Fatima Zahra and Imam Khomeini hospital of Sari.(2007-2008).

Methods: We interviewed and completed the SF-36 questionnaires for 100 hemodialysis patients and 100 healthy people and collected data were analyzed by SPSS 15 software, with McNemar, Pearson, chi- square, and independent t-test.

Results: Mean age for patients was 55.41 and for healthy people 55.16 years. Patients were mostly with low education, urban residents, and intermediate socio-economic class. Mental health score was the top and the role emotional scores the least aspects of patients' quality of life. In addition there was significant difference between patients and healthy people scores on every subscale in quality of life.

Conclusions: The results showed that there is necessity for socioeconomic support and counseling activities for patients with hemodialysis.