PURPOSE:

Of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), 8-16 % had a history of stroke at dialysis initiation. We used the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan to evaluate whether peritoneal dialysis (PD) or hemodialysis (HD) confers a survival advantage for patients with incident ESRD and prior stroke.

METHODS:

We identified 975 patients undergoing PD and 975 propensity score-matched patients with newly diagnosed ESRD and prior stroke undergoing HD between 2000 and 2010. Both cohorts were followed up until the end of 2011. Comparisons of the risks of mortality between PD and HD were analyzed using the Cox proportional hazards regression model.

RESULTS:

In the propensity score-matched cohorts, there was a 2.4 per 100 person-years greater mortality in patients with PD (20.4 vs. 18.0 per 100 person-years) with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 1.20 (95 % CI 1.06-1.36). For patients with diabetes, ESRD and prior stroke, patients undergoing PD had inferior survival compared with those undergoing HD (adjusted HR 1.22, 95 % CI 1.05-1.43), particularly among female patients (adjusted HR 1.55, 95 % CI 1.25-1.91). For patients with ESRD and prior stroke but without diabetes, there was no significant difference in mortality between PD and HD (adjusted HR 1.20, 95 % CI 0.96-1.50).

CONCLUSIONS:

PD was associated with overall poorer survival among patients with diabetes, ESRD and prior stroke and with similar overall survival among patients with ESRD and prior stroke, but without diabetes, compared with HD.