title: Early peritonitis is an independent risk factor for mortality in elderly peritoneal dialysis patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The impact of early peritonitis on the outcome of elderly peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients has not been studied. We aimed to research the influence of early peritonitis on patient outcomes in elderly PD patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study involved elderly PD patients (age ≥65) who underwent PD between Jan 1, 2004 and Jul 31, 2013. Patient characteristics were collected in our database. Early peritonitis was defined as peritonitis within 6 months after the initiation of PD. Patient survival and technique were compared among the non-peritonitis, early peritonitis and late peritonitis groups using Cox regression analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 155 subjects involved in this study. The patients were divided among a non-peritonitis group (n=78), early peritonitis group (n=32) and late peritonitis group (n=45). The organisms causing first peritonitis in the two groups did not differ significantly. After adjustment for age, diabetes, serum albumin and residual renal function, multivariable Cox regression model revealed that compared with the early peritonitis group, both the non-peritonitis group (HR 0.57, RI 0.32-0.99, p=0.046) and the late peritonitis group (HR 0.37, RI 0.16-0.75, p=0.004) exhibited a lower patient mortality rate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Early peritonitis is an independent risk factor for mortality in elderly peritoneal dialysis patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Linsen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Sheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Zhoubing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Huaying
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002423:Cause of Death; D016208:Databases, Factual; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D010530:Peritoneal Dialysis / Q000401:mortality*; D010538:Peritonitis / Q000401:mortality*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate; D017211:Treatment Failure