⋄ Background
Peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients have many risk factors that may affect their clinical outcomes. Age and diabetes status are unequally distributed in the dialysis population of Singapore. Risk stratification is a means of reducing the effects of case mix such that high-risk groups in the dialysis population can be identified.
⋄ Patients and Methods
Records for 543 patients who started on chronic dialysis during 2002 – 2005 were retrospectively studied for survival in the first year on dialysis. The age, sex, ethnicity, and diabetes status of the patients were noted.
⋄ Results
For patients 60 years of age and older, we observed no differences in the prevalences of diabetes, male sex, or Chinese ethnicity between patients on PD and those on hemodialysis (HD). Patients of Chinese ethnicity on PD were found to have a higher likelihood of survival in the first year as compared with patients on HD. Age, sex, and diabetes status were not associated with survival in the first year.
⋄ Conclusions
In a single PD treatment center, Chinese ethnicity conferred a survival advantage in the first year on dialysis. The reasons for that finding are not clear, but they were not related to age, diabetes status, or sex.
