Epidemiologic and demographic aspects of peritoneal dialysis in Mexico

To assess some epidemiological and demographic aspects of peritoneal dialysis (PD) at the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS), the major institution of social security in Mexico, that provides health care services for 57% of the Mexican population at the time of the study.

A cross-sectional analysis of data about patients under peritoneal dialysis in 1992.

A national survey containing demographic data, dialysis modality, type of catheter, peritonitis and death rates, and questions on costs, medical staff, and physical facilities for PD in all of the hospitals of the IMSS.

All hospitals returned the information requested. Intermittent peritoneal dialysis (IPD) was performed in 19 hospitals, continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) in 11, and both modalities in 90. In 61 hospitals, a special area was designed for PD; in the rest of them, beds from general internal medicine departments were used. All hospitals had a head for the PD programs; overall, teams had 240 physicians and 765 nurses for IPD, and 182 physicians and 313 nurses for CAPD. CAPD prescription was four 2-L bags/day. For IPD, patients were hospitalized once a week and received 28 manually performed exchanges of 2-L bags; the mean time of hospitalization was 2.7 days, and 878 beds were used. The number of patients receiving PD was 7785, with a prevalence of 199.6 per million population. Of them, 4011 were on IPD and 3774 on CAPD; 54% of the patients were males. IPD patients' mean age was 49 +/- 17 yr, and that of CAPD patients' was 42 +/- 17 yr (NS). Diabetic nephropathy was the most frequent cause of ESRD (44%). Infection was the most important complication detected. Rates of peritonitis were 0.5/patient/yr on IPD and 0.8/patient/yr on CAPD. Annual mortality rates without stratification for specific causes were 34% in IPD and 17% in CAPD. Mortality rates may have been influenced by malnutrition and cardiovascular complications of diabetes, but specific causes of death were not investigated. All of the PD programs costs were covered by the institution. The cost per patient was not calculated, but IPD is known to be more expensive, due to its higher hospitalization rate.

In spite of its higher cost and mortality, the institutions still use IPD, not so much on medical basis, but as the only alternative available for patients with adverse environmental, social, educational, and economic conditions for CAPD or HD.