Ten Years of Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis: Analysis of Patient and Technique Survival

The patient survival (PS) and technique survival (TS) were evaluated in 1990 patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) (males: 55.9%, mean age±SD: 58.4± 14.8 years), treated in 30 centers participating in the Italian PD Study Group, from 1980 to 1989 (follow-up: 3953 years; mean±SD: 2.02±1.86 years).

The total PS was 50.7% at 4 years, compared to 73.3% of patients without clinical high -risk condition (HRC) at the beginning of CAPD. In this group (34.0%) PS was significantly higher (p<0.001) compared, respectively, to patients with cardiovascular disease (30.5%), diabetes (13.1%), and age ≥70 years (11.2%). The percentage of death reached the mean value of 11.3% per year without any statistically significant tendency to variation during the follow-up, despite the increased number of patients ≥65 years old and those with HRC (p<0.001).

Cardiovascular diseases (47.3%) and cachexia (17.8%) were the most frequent causes of death, whereas the mortality due to peritonitis showed a progressive in crease in patients with peritonitis Incidence 1 ep/year (G4) compared to those with <0.5 ep/year (G2). Peritonitis (0.68 ep/year) was the most frequent cause of technique failure (30.0%), with clinical complications (18.2%) and peritoneal membrane failure (16.4%) as the second and third causes. The dropout percentage was 8.3% per year with a significant decrease over time (p=0.012) and a positive correlation with the reduction of peritonitis incidence (p=0.035). The total TS was 50.1% at 7 years, and it was significantly worse in G4 compared to G2. The TS was significantly better in patients 65 years of age than in younger ones, who had the same probability and risk of peritonitis, but a higher incidence of membrane failure. In those patients where CAPD was the second dialysis treatment TS was significantly worse (p<0.001), with a higher probability and risk of peritonitis. The TS was not affected by diabetes, and probability and relative risk of peritonitis were similar to that of non diabetic patients.