Safety issues of long-term glucose load in patients on peritoneal dialysis--a 7-year cohort study

Effects of long-term glucose load on peritoneal dialysis (PD) patient safety and outcomes have seldom been reported. This study demonstrates the influence of long-term glucose load on patient and technique survival.

We surveyed 173 incident PD patients. Long-term glucose load was evaluated by calculating the average dialysate glucose concentration since initiation of PD. Risk factors were assessed by fitting Cox's models with repeatedly measured time-dependent covariates.

We noted that older age, higher glucose concentration, and lower residual renal function (RRF) were significantly associated with a worse patient survival. We found that female gender, absence of diabetes, lower glucose concentration, use of icodextrin, higher serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol, and higher RRF were significantly associated with a better technique survival.

Long-term glucose load predicted mortality and technique failure in chronic PD patients. These findings emphasize the importance of minimizing glucose load in PD patients.