Effect of diabetes on incidence of peritoneal dialysis-associated peritonitis

Several reports on patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) treated by peritoneal dialysis (PD) have shown a higher risk of PD-associated peritonitis compared to non-DM (NDM) patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of PD-associated peritonitis in DM patients.

We divided all patients who received PD at a single center between January 1980 and December 2012 into three groups according to era: Period 1 (n = 43, 1980-1993); Period 2 (n = 123, 1994-2004); and Period 3 (n = 207, 2005-2012). We investigated incidences of PD-associated peritonitis between patients with and without DM.

In Periods 1 and 2, incidence of PD-associated peritonitis was higher in the DM group than in the NDM group (P<0.05). However, no difference according to presence of DM was seen in Period 3. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed DM as a risk factor for incidence of PD-associated peritonitis in Periods 1 and 2, but not in Period 3 (hazard ratio [HR], 2.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.15 to 5.23; HR, 2.36; 95%CI, 1.13 to 4.58; and HR, 0.82; 95%CI, 0.41 to 1.54, respectively). Furthermore, the peritonitis-free period was significantly shorter in the DM group than in the DM group in Periods 1 and 2, whereas no significant difference was seen in Period 3 (P<0.01, P<0.01 and P = 0.55, respectively). Moreover, a significant interaction was seen between diabetes and study period, and became less pronounced during Period 3(P<0.01).

The increased risk of peritonitis in diabetics reported in previous periods has not been evident in recent years.