Introduction: Cognitive impairment is common among patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD). We hypothesize that cognitive impairment has a negative impact on the outcome of patients on PD, especially with regard to peritonitis.
Methods: This was a single-center 2-year prospective cohort study involving 206 patients at 1 PD unit. Cognitive impairment was defined by the latest Hong Kong Montreal Cognitive Assessment Score (HK-MoCA) multiple cut-offs as determined by age and years of education. Eighty percent of patients had come back for interval HK-MoCA. The HK-MoCA was performed at baseline and after 1 year on PD. Potential risk factors for cognitive impairment and peritonitis were studied separately for the first and second year.
Results: For cognitive impairment at baseline, multivariate analyses showed that age (odds ratio [OR] 1.003, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.003 - 1.065, p = 0.03), female sex (OR 3.57, 95% CI 1.60 - 7.97, p = 0.002), peripheral vascular disease (PVD) (OR 3.46, 95% CI 1.33 - 9.01, p = 0.01), and hemoglobin level (OR 0.60, 95% CI 0.43 - 0.84, p = 0.003) were statistically significant factors. For cognitive impairment at 1 year, multivariate analyses showed that age (OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.02 - 1.012, p = 0.007), female sex (OR 5.87, 95% CI 1.86 - 18.5, p = 0.003), and PVD (OR 3.68, 95% CI 1.07 - 12.84, p = 0.04) were statistically significant independent factors for cognitive impairment at 1 year.For self-care PD patients in the second year, patients with cognitive impairment had a higher rate of peritonitis and proportionately more patients suffered from both peritonitis and exit-site infection than non-cognitively impaired patients in the second year (0.50 vs 0.27 episodes per year, p = 0.048; 25% vs 7.2%, p = 0.049). Logistic regression showed that only HK-MoCA-defined cognitive impairment and HK-MoCA scores at 1 year were factors predicting peritonitis (risk ratio [RR] 3.2 [95% CI 1.03 - 9.95], p = 0.04 and RR 0.92 [95% CI 0.86 - 0.995], p = 0.04 respectively).
Conclusions: In summary, increasing age, female sex, anemia, and presence of PVD are risk factors for cognitive impairment in PD patients. Self-care PD with cognitive impairment at 1 year has a higher risk for PD-related peritonitis in the second year. Interval HK-MoCA assessment is recommended to detect cognitive impairment in our local PD patients.
Keywords: Neurocognitive disorder; peritoneal dialysis-related peritonitis.
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