Hospitalization for patients on combination therapy with peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis compared with hemodialysis

Abstract Introduction Combination therapy with peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis (PD+HD) is widely used for PD patients with decreased residual kidney function in Japan, however, hospitalization for this combined dialysis has not been investigated so far. We compared the risk of hospitalization for PD+HD with that for HD. Methods A multicenter, prospective observational study was conducted on 42 PD+HD and 42 HD patients matched for age and diabetic nephropathy. The main outcome measure was the cumulative incidence of hospitalization for any cause assessed with the Kaplan-Meier method. Hospitalization rates (the number of admissions per 100 patient-years) associated with dialysis modality were also calculated. The impact of dialysis modality on time to hospitalization was analyzed using Cox’s proportional hazard model. Results There was no significant difference between groups in terms of age, sex, dialysis vintage, diabetic nephropathy, and comorbidities. The cumulative incidence of hospitalization did not significantly differ between the groups (Log-rank test, p = 0.36). While total hospitalization rates were 66.0 in PD+HD and 59.2 in HD, hospitalization rates for the sum of PD-related infections (a composite of catheter-related infection and peritonitis) and vascular access troubles were 21.7 in PD+HD and 7.2 in HD. On univariate Cox’s proportional hazard analysis, dialysis modality had no significant impact on time to hospitalization. Conclusion The risk of hospitalization was not significantly different between PD+HD and HD, although PD+HD patients had a higher risk of dialysis access-related complications than HD patients.