Project Details

The US currently does not have comprehensive, standardized reporting of PD-related peritonitis. Without standardized reporting, it is difficult to compare peritonitis rates, microbiology, and outcomes between dialysis facilities. Being able to compare such data between providers would ultimately lead to the ability to identify patient and facility characteristics that affect peritonitis risk and eventually the establishment of best clinical practices and benchmarks that would lead to the reduction in PD-related peritonitis. The OPPUS project demonstrated the feasibility of standardized, uniform peritonitis reporting over 1 year in a diverse sample of 54 US-based PD facilities that could be expanded to the US PD population. The operation of this OPPUS Peritonitis Tracker Pilot Study was facilitated by Arbor Research's development of an ArborLink-based data collection platform (OPPUSLink) that was customized for this project.

This study resulted in 12 publications, including ones that demonstrated large inter-facility variation in peritonitis rates across 103 US-based PD facilities. US peritonitis rates were higher with younger age, diabetes, by race (Black>White>Asian), or having prior peritonitis episode(s). Peritonitis cure differed greatly between certain types of typically used antibiotics. Numerous new relationships with peritonitis and related outcomes were discovered regarding other patient-, facility-, and treatment-related factors.