A retrospective assessment of risk factors for peritonitis among an urban CAPD population

Peritonitis is a major reason why patients transfer from peritoneal dialysis (PD) to hemodialysis. We evaluated the peritonitis infection rates in 146 peritoneal dialysis patients who underwent dialysis at our facility between 1 January 1981 and 31 December 1989. Peritonitis was the primary cause for changing treatment, with 24 (16.4%) of the patients transferring because of this complication. This represented 54.5% of all patients discontinuing CAPD due to method failure. A gamma-Poisson regression analysis was performed in an attempt to identify potential risk factors associated with an increased incidence of peritonitis. The results indicated that race, education level, and PD system used were significantly associated with the rate at which peritonitis occurred in our patient population. There was an almost twofold increase in the rate of peritonitis among blacks as compared to whites (2.2 vs 1.2 episodes/patient year). The level of education completed at the start of dialysis had a negative correlation with peritonitis rates. Patients with ≤ 8, 9-12, and ≥ 13 years of education had peritonitis rates of 2.4, 1.8, and 1.2 episodes/patient year, respectively. Finally, the system used had a significant effect with our patients on CCPD having lower peritonitis rates as compared to patients on either a connect or disconnect system (0.6 vs 2.5 vs 1.8 episodes/patient year, respectively). Recognizing potential risk factors for peritonitis will help us better understand and address this significant problem in our PD programs. Reducing peritonitis rates should facilitate a decrease in patient transfer due to method failure.