Remote Treatment Monitoring on Hospitalization and Technique Failure Rates in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

An integrated kidney disease healthcare company implemented a peritoneal dialysis (PD) remote treatment monitoring (RTM) application in 2016. We assessed if RTM utilization associates with hospitalization and technique failure rates.

We used data from adult (age ≥18 years) patients on PD treated from October 2016 through May 2019 who registered online for the RTM. Patients were classified by RTM use during a 30-day baseline after registration. Groups were: nonusers (never entered data), moderate users (entered one to 15 treatments), and frequent users (entered >15 treatments). We compared hospital admission/day and sustained technique failure (required >6 consecutive weeks of hemodialysis) rates over 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of follow-up using Poisson and Cox models adjusted for patient/clinical characteristics.

Among 6343 patients, 65% were nonusers, 11% were moderate users, and 25% were frequent users. Incidence rate of hospital admission was 22% (incidence rate ratio [IRR]=0.78; P=0.002), 24% (IRR=0.76; P<0.001), 23% (IRR=0.77; P≤0.001), and 26% (IRR=0.74; P≤0.001) lower in frequent users after 3, 6, 9, and 12 months, respectively, versus nonusers. Incidence rate of hospital days was 38% (IRR=0.62; P=0.013), 35% (IRR=0.65; P=0.001), 34% (IRR=0.66; P≤0.001), and 32% (IRR=0.68; P<0.001) lower in frequent users after 3, 6, 9, and 12 months, respectively, versus nonusers. Sustained technique failure risk at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months was 33% (hazard ratio [HR]=0.67; P=0.020), 31% (HR=0.69; P=0.003), 31% (HR=0.69; P=0.001), and 27% (HR=0.73; P=0.001) lower, respectively, in frequent users versus nonusers. Among a subgroup of survivors of the 12-month follow-up, sustained technique failure risk was 26% (HR=0.74; P=0.023) and 21% (HR=0.79; P=0.054) lower after 9 and 12 months, respectively, in frequent users versus nonusers.

Our findings suggest frequent use of an RTM application associates with less hospital admissions, shorter hospital length of stay, and lower technique failure rates. Adoption of RTM applications may have the potential to improve timely identification/intervention of complications.