Relationship between initial peritoneal dialysis modality and risk of peritonitis

Abstract

Peritonitis is a critical complication of peritoneal dialysis (PD). Investigators have reported the risk of peritonitis in patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) versus automated peritoneal dialysis (APD), but the available evidence is predominantly based on observational studies which failed to report on the connection type. Our understanding of the relationship between peritonitis risk and PD modality thus remained insufficient. We studied 285 participants who began PD treatment between 1997 and 2014 at three hospitals in Nara Prefecture in Japan. We matched 106 APD patients with 106 CAPD patients based on their propensity scores. The primary outcome was time to first episode of peritonitis within 3 years after PD commencement. In total, PD peritonitis occurred in 64 patients during the study period. Patients initiated on APD had a lower risk of peritonitis than did those initiated on CAPD in both the unadjusted and adjusted models. The hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the primary endpoint were 0.30 (0.17-0.53) in the fully adjusted model including connection type. In the matched cohort, APD patients had a significantly lower risk of peritonitis than did CAPD patients (log-rank: p < 0.001, HR 0.32, 95% CI 0.16-0.59). The weighting-adjusted analysis of the inverse probability of treatment yielded a similar result (HR 0.35, 95% CI 0.18-0.67). In conclusion, patients initiated on APD at PD commencement had a reduced risk of peritonitis compared with those initiated on CAPD, suggesting APD may be preferable for prevention of peritonitis among PD patients.

Figure 1

Study Flowchart.

Figure 2

Kaplan–Meier analysis showing the cumulative incidence of the primary endpoint in patients receiving PD according to PD modality before (A) and after (B) propensity score matching (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001 by the log-rank test).

Figure 3

Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) of the primary endpoints for APD versus CAPD within subgroups stratified by age, sex, diabetes, overweight patients and connection devise use.