Kee YK, et al. - This study sheds light on the characteristics and clinical outcomes of patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD) for a long time. Findings indicated peritoneal dialysis represents a considerable long-term renal replacement therapy option, especially in non-diabetic, not overweight, and young end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients.

Methods

• Researchers screened all end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients who initiated PD at Yonsei University Health System between 1987 and 2000.
• They categorized patients who maintained PD for over 15 years as the long-term PD group and those who were treated with PD for less than 5 years as the short-term PD group.
• They compared demographic and biochemical data and clinical outcomes between the groups.
• Additionally, they used multivariate logistic regression analysis to ascertain independent factors associated with long-term PD maintenance.

Results

• This study included 1,116 patients; 87 (7.8%) were included in the long-term group and 293 (26.3%) were included in the short-term group.
• Data reported that in the long-term group, the mean patient age at PD initiation was 39.6 ± 11.5 years, 35 patients (40.2%) were male, and the mean PD duration was 205.3 ± 32.7 months.
• Researchers observed that in the long-term group versus short-term group (p < 0.001), patients were younger, body weight was lower, the proportion of patients with diabetes or cardiovascular diseases was lower, and the proportion of low to low-average transporters was higher.
• In addition, age, body mass index (BMI), serum creatinine, type of PD solution, and diabetes were identified as significant independent factors associated with long-term PD maintenance in the multiple logistic regression analysis.