Impact of Early Nephrology Referral on Mortality and Hospitalization in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

OBJECTIVES: Several studies have examined the possible association between late referral to a nephrologist and mortality on maintenance hemodialysis. However, we lack information on the benefit of early nephrologist referral in patients receiving peritoneal dialysis (PD). PATIENTS AND METHODS: In an inception cohort of 102 consecutive PD patients identified in a single center between 2003 and 2004, we sought to determine whether late nephrologist referral was associated with poor outcomes. The primary end point was all-cause mortality. The effects of early referral to a multidisciplinary low clearance clinic on cardiovascular mortality and length of hospitalization were also evaluated. RESULTS: Of 102 incident PD patients, 61 subjects (59.8%) were referred early to the nephrologist (more than 3 months) before dialysis initiation. During the study period of 284.9 patient-years (median follow-up period 36.8 months), 25 patients died, 12 due to cardiovascular causes. Both cardiovascular and all-cause mortality were significantly increased among PD patients with late referral, but the relationship between late referral and all-cause mortality was mitigated substantially by adjusting for relevant factors. In univariate analysis, late nephrology referral was associated with increased cardiovascular mortality, with a hazard ratio of 5.43 (95% confidence interval 1.46 - 20.21, p = 0.012). Annual adjusted days of hospitalization were similar between the early and late nephrology referral groups. CONCLUSIONS: A comprehensive analysis of incident PD subjects confirmed the significant relationship between late nephrology referral and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. A causal relationship remains to be established and validated.