Background: The Health Care Financing Administration Peritoneal Dialysis Core Indicator Project obtains data yearly in four areas of patient care: dialysis adequacy, anemia, blood pressure, and nutrition.
Methods: Adequacy and dialysis prescription data were obtained using a standardized data abstraction form from a random sample of adult U.S. peritoneal dialysis patients who were alive on December 31, 1996.
Results: For the cohort receiving cycler dialysis, 22% were unable to meet the National Kidney Foundation Dialysis Outcome Quality Initiatives (NKF-DOQI) dialysis adequacy guidelines because they did not have at least one adequacy measure during the six-month period of observation. Thirty-six percent of patients met NKF-DOQI guidelines for weekly Kt/V urea, 33% met guidelines for weekly creatinine clearance (CCr), and 24% met guidelines for both urea and creatinine clearances. The mean weekly adequacy values were 2.24 +/- 0.56 for Kt/V urea and 67.5 +/- 24.4 liter/1.73 m2 for CCr, and the median values were 2.20 and 62.25 liter/1.73 m2, respectively. The mean prescribed 24-hour volume was 12,040 +/- 3255 ml, and the median prescribed volume was 11,783 ml. Only 60% of patients were prescribed at least one daytime dwell. By logistic regression analysis, risk factors for an inadequate dose of dialysis included being in the highest quartile of body surface area (odds ratio = 3.3 for CCr and 3.4 for Kt/V urea) and a duration of dialysis greater than two years (odds ratio = 4.2 for CCr and 2.1 for Kt/V urea).
Conclusion: There is much room for improvement in providing an adequate dose of dialysis to cycler patients. Practitioners should be more aggressive in increasing dwell volumes, adding daytime dwells, and adjusting nighttime dwell times in order to compensate for the loss of residual renal function over time. These changes can only be accomplished if practitioners measure periodically the dose of dialysis as outlined in the NKF-DOQI guidelines.