Peritoneal dialysis has become commonly used for renal replacement therapy; however, some patients withdraw from peritoneal dialysis due to complications, including peritoneal dialysis-related peritonitis, resulting in the low number of patients on peritoneal dialysis. Risk factors for peritoneal dialysis withdrawal due to peritoneal dialysis-related peritonitis are less certain. This retrospective study aimed to investigate these risk factors.

We retrospectively analyzed clinical characteristics, laboratory data, and causative microorganisms of 204 episodes of peritoneal dialysis-related peritonitis between 2007 and 2018 at our institution.

Of the 204 episodes, 38 resulted in withdrawal from peritoneal dialysis due to peritoneal dialysis-related peritonitis. The number of peritonitis episodes per patient-year and the incidence of cardiovascular disease were significantly higher in the withdrawal group. Similarly, this group had low levels of serum creatinine, urea nitrogen, serum albumin, alanine aminotransferase, cholinesterase and high C-reactive protein, and second dialysate cell counts after antibiotic administration. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that serum albumin (odds ratio: 0.465; 95% confidence interval: 0.249–0.868; P=0.016) and cardiovascular disease (odds ratio: 2.508; 95% confidence interval: 1.184–5.315; P=0.016) exhibited significant differences.

The results of this study suggest that hypoalbuminemia and the presence of cardiovascular disease were independent risk factors for withdrawal from peritoneal dialysis due to peritoneal dialysis-related peritonitis.