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Background.
We aim to explore if disease severity score (DSS) at onset is associated with
dialysate white cell counts, the severity of causative organisms and the risk for
treatment failure of peritoneal dialysis (PD)-associated peritonitis in an
adult PD cohort.
Methods.
Our prospective cohort study recorded all peritonitis episodes between 2008 and
2010. The DSS, demographic data and clinical characteristics were recorded at
the onset of peritonitis. The dialysate cells were counted at regular intervals
and organism culture were examined too. Treatment failure of peritonitis was defined
as peritonitis-associated death and transfer to haemodialysis.
Results.
A total of 219 episodes of peritonitis in 146 PD patients were recorded, 21.9%
of which resulted in treatment failure. There were no significant differences
in dialysate white cell counts on the fifth and seventh day and the
distribution of causative organism between groups with varied DSS level. DSS
could not predict treatment failure including peritonitis-related death and
transfer to haemodialysis after adjusting for age, gender, diabetes, dialysis
duration, dialysate white cell count on the third day, the presence of Staphylococcus
aureus, gram-negative organisms and polymicrobial organisms.
Conclusion.
Our study demonstrated that DSS at onset was not associated with prolonged
elevation of dialysate white cell counts, severity of causative organisms and
outcome of peritonitis episodes in adult PD patients.
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