Analysis of fragility and risk of peritonitis in elderly patients on peritoneal dialysis

Abstract

Introduction: Elderly patients on peritoneal dialysis have a higher risk of presenting fragility, loss of autonomy, comorbidity and decreased quality of life. Objective: To assess frailty, dependency, depression and quality of life, analysing the repercussion of frailty on the learning time of the technique and the appearance of the first episode of peritonitis. Material and Method: descriptive retrospective study. Patients older than 70 years were included, from September 2016 to 2017, episodes of peritonitis until the end of 2018. Demographic variables, dialysis modality, Charlson index, Barthel index, Yesavage geriatric depression scale, clinical fragility scale, quality of life scale, training time and first peritonitis were collected. Results: 25 patients were included, 56% men, mean age 76.77±5.34 years, 72% were on manual peritoneal dialysis. The mean value for the Charlson index was 7.88±2.06, for Barthel index 88.27±24.66 and for the Short form 12 health survey 32.96±8.61. 40% had some degree of frailty, 24% depression, 28% needed help or were institutionalized. Average training time in fragile patients was 16.77±7.93 hours versus non-fragile 15.20±5.06 (p=0.42). 16 episodes of peritonitis were collected, distributed to 50% between both groups. The mean time of appearance of fragile people was 315.13±212.73 days versus 320.25±224.91 days for non-fragile ones (p=0.44). Conclusions: Most of the patients perform manual peritoneal dialysis autonomously. They have low frailty levels, no depression and enjoy a good quality of life for their age. There is no difference in learning time between the two groups. Peritonitis is equally distributed in fragile and non-fragile patients.