OBJECTIVETo investigate the epidemiology, peritoneal dialysis (PD) related complications and survival outcomes of 236 patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) in our center from January, 2004 to November, 2009.

METHODSThe data including patient gender, age, time of PD initiation, addresses, types of medical reimbursement, primary diseases, modes of PD catheter placement surgery, types of PD catheter, PD-related complications, and time of drop out were retrospectively analyzed. PD catheter migration rate, peritonitis rate, drop out rate (DOR), length of the time of PD therapy (TOT), and survival rate were calculated and compared with those of patients in other PD centers.

RESULTSThe number of newly introduced patients increased gradually in the years from 2004 to 2009. The mean age of newly introduced patients was 47-/+16 years, and patients with age below 60 years accounted for 77.96%. Patients who paid for their own expenses accounted for 67.37% of all, and the rate of these patients decreased gradually. Similar to that in Asian-Pacific region, chronic glomerulonephritis was the most frequent cause of ESRD followed by diabetic nephropathy. The number of patients with chronic glomerulonephritis or obstructive nephropathy as the primary diseases was greater in this center than that reported in the Asian-Pacific region, accounting for 54.66% and 11.02% of all patients, respectively. In contrast, the patients with diabetic nephropathy or benign arteriolar renal sclerosis were less, accounting for 12.29% and 10.17% of all, respectively. PD catheter migration rate (8.05%) and peritonitis rate (1:44.22 patient-months) were both lower than those reported. The patient survival rates at 1, 2, 3 years were 83.65%, 51.59% and 29.81%, respectively, lower than those of other centers in the developed countries but higher than the mean levels in China. DOR decreased gradually to 11.56% in 2009, and TOT increased to 23.61 months.

CONCLUSIONThe above characteristics of the patients are related to many factors, including the "PD first" principle, high prevalence of urinary calculosis in the primary source regions of most patients, preventive partial omentum resection in some patients, education and follow-up for patients, and increased expense cover by medical insurance.