Extracellular water/intracellular water is a strong predictor of patient survival in incident peritoneal dialysis patients

Background: The mortality rate of peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients is still high and controversies persist regarding the mortality predictor. This study was designed to identify the predictability of the extracellular water/intracellular water ratio (E/I) on mortality in PD patients. Methods: 227 incident PD patients were included. Time-dependent Cox proportional hazard regression was used to investigate the predictability of E/I on mortality. Results: The 2- and 3-year survival was 74 and 65%, respectively. Univariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis showed that the significant predictors of mortality were age, sex, Charlson Comorbidity Index, total Kt/V, serum albumin, pulse pressure, presence of malnutrition, and E/I. However, the final Cox proportional hazard models revealed that E/I was the only significant predictor. For every increase of 0.1 in the E/I value, the relative risk of death was 1.368. Conclusions: E/I is a strong independent predictor of mortality in incident PD patients. Copyright (c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel.