Peritoneal Dialysis Care in Mainland China: Nationwide Survey (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Peritoneal dialysis (PD) care in mainland China has been progressing in the past 10 years. OBJECTIVE To complement information from the dialysis registry, a large-scale nationwide survey was conducted to investigate the current infrastructure and management of PD care at hospitals of different tiers. METHODS A web-based multiple-choice questionnaire was distributed through the National Center for Nephrology Medical Quality Management and Control to PD centers of secondary and tertiary hospitals in October 2020. The 2-part survey collected the information of PD centers and the clinical management of patients on PD. A total of 788 effective surveys from 746 hospitals were voluntarily returned, and data were extracted and analyzed. RESULTS The effective survey data covered 101,537 patients on PD, with 95% (96,460/101,537) in the tertiary hospitals. The median number of patients per PD center was 60 (IQR 21-152); this number was 32 (IQR 8-65) and 70 (IQR 27-192) for secondary and tertiary hospitals, respectively. There was a discrepancy in the availability of designated physical areas for different functions of PD care between the secondary and tertiary hospitals. The proportion of tertiary hospitals with PD training (P=.01), storage (P=.09), and procedure area (PPP CONCLUSIONS This national survey reflects the current status and disparities of PD center management in mainland China. The study results suggest that the PD care needs to be more conveniently accessible in secondary hospitals, and quality management and staff training in secondary hospitals are still in high demand.