Supplementation with most water-soluble vitamins and minerals, including iron and zinc, should be considered in CAPD patients, especially those with low RRF and low urea clearance. The optimal dose needs to be determined.

Objective We studied the clinical characteristics that influence the risk of dialysis-related peritonitis complication in incident Chinese patients undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). Methods A single center, retrospective, observational cohort study was carried out to examine the risk factors of developing a first episode of dialysis-related peritonitis. Results Between 1995 and 2004, 246 incident CAPD patients were recruited for analysis. During the study period of 897.1 patient-years, 85 initial episodes of peritonitis were recorded. The median peritonitis-free time for diabetic subjects was significantly worse than for nondiabetic subjects (49.0 ± 10.5 vs 82.3 ± 12.6 months, p = 0.0019). The difference was due mainly to a higher likelihood of developing peritonitis with gram-negative organisms in patients with diabetes mellitus ( p = 0.038). Low serum albumin concentration was also associated with worse peritonitis-free survival. There was a nonsignificant trend toward an increased risk for peritonitis in the group of patients with cerebrovascular disease. According to multivariate Cox proportional hazards model for the analysis of time to first peritonitis episode, the two independent risk factors were presence of diabetes mellitus and initial serum albumin concentration. In particular, diabetes mellitus was associated with a hazard ratio of 1.50 and a 95% confidence interval of 1.05 – 2.40 ( p = 0.030) to develop an initial peritonitis. Lower serum albumin level at the start of CAPD was a significant predictor of peritonitis, with hazard ratio of 1.67 for every decrease of 10 g/L, and 95% confidence interval 1.08 – 2.60 ( p = 0.021). Conclusions Our results confirm the susceptibility of diabetic CAPD and hypoalbuminemic patients to peritonitis, and highlight the role of further studies in reducing this complication.

Early prediction of outcomes has major potential implications regarding the management of dialysis-related peritonitis. The outcomes of 565 consecutive episodes of peritonitis complicating peritoneal dialysis between August 2001 and July 2005 were evaluated in relation to the dialysate cell counts. Discriminatory power, based on the area under the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves, of the cell counts was assessed. The findings then were validated externally in a cohort of 217 peritonitis episodes from another dialysis unit. During the study period, 565 episodes of peritonitis were included for analysis, 465 of which had treatment success defined as complete resolution of peritonitis without the need for Tenckhoff catheter removal. Of the remaining 100 episodes (treatment failure), 70 required Tenckhoff catheter removal and 30 had peritonitisrelated death. The peritoneal dialysate total white blood cell count on day 3 of peritonitis predicted treatment failure independent of standard risk factors, and it had a higher area under the ROC curve than the dialysate white cell count on day 1 (0.80 versus 0.58; P < 0.0001). Using a peritoneal dialysate white count cut point >1090/mm 3 on day 3, the sensitivity was 75% and the specificity was 74% for the prediction of treatment failure (defined as catheter loss or peritonitis-related death). In multiple logistic regression analyses, peritoneal dialysate white count >1090/mm 3 on day 3 was an independent prognostic marker for treatment failure after adjustment for conventional risk factors (hazard ratio 9.03; 95% confidence interval 4.40 to 18.6; P < 0.0001). Number of years on peritoneal dialysis; diabetes; Gram-negative organisms; and Pseudomonas, fungal, or Mycobacterium species were other independent risk factors that were predictive of treatment failure. Findings from an independent validation set of peritonitis (217 episodes after exclusion of Mycobacterium and fungal causes) also favored the peritoneal dialysate white count on day 3, as compared with day 1 and day 2, to predict treatment failure. Area under the ROC curve for the white counts on day 3 was 0.98 (95% confidence interval 0.95 to 0.99) in the validation set. This study demonstrated and cross-validated the superiority of peritoneal dialysate white cell count on day 3 to predict outcomes of dialysis-related peritonitis. These results call attention to the value of validating prognostic factors of peritonitis complicating peritoneal dialysis.

Conclusions: The finding of negative association between the trainers' length of time in practice and peritonitis incidence reminds us that active continued learning and applying principles of adult learning might be the answers for the nurses to teach the patients.