Changes in the demographics and prescription of peritoneal dialysis during the last decade

Changes in the demographics and prescription of peritoneal dialysis (PD) during the past decade are reviewed using data from the United States and Canada. The number of patients in North America undergoing PD has increased markedly over the past decade, but the percentage of total chronic dialysis patients using the modality has remained relatively stable or decreased slightly during recent years. The average age of the patients undergoing PD has increased, and the percentage with diabetes has also increased. Comorbidity has otherwise remained relatively stable and tends to be significantly less than that in patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis (HD). The proportion of PD patients undergoing automated PD (APD) has increased markedly over the past decade and now includes more than one third of the PD patients in North America. The issue of adequacy of clearance achieved on PD has received a lot of attention over the past decade, and this is now being translated into changes in prescription. Patients undergoing continuous ambulatory PD (CAPD) are being prescribed larger dwell volumes, and more than one quarter use 2.5-L dwells or greater. A small number in the United States are being prescribed more than four exchanges a day, but this practice is more common in Canada. With regard to APD, the proportion of patients doing day dwells is now more than two thirds, and the average cycler dwell volumes have also increased. There are no baseline clearance data from a decade ago for comparative purposes, but it appears that clearances have increased in recent years. In general, more than 70% of the patients are achieving recommended clearance targets at the initiation of PD but, among prevalent US patients, the percentage achieving targets is in the range of 40% to 45%, reflecting a loss of residual renal function. In Canada, 60% to 70% of prevalent patients are achieving these targets. PD is a rapidly changing therapy at present. There have been dramatic and impressive improvements in prescription practices, but they need to change further if a higher proportion of patients is to achieve recommended clearance targets.