The place and cause of death of Japanese peritoneal dialysis patients

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough 70% of Japanese individuals wish to die at home, the in-hospital death rate in Japan is 71%. The in-hospital death rate is more than 80% in dialysis patients, most of whom are hemodialysis patients. Few reports exist on the relationship between place and cause of death in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective study of PD patients who died between January 2008 and June 2022 at three facilities.ResultsNinety-four patients died, 71% in hospital, 25% at home, and 4% in elderly care facilities. The in-hospital death rates were 67%, 74%, and 71% (P = 0.90) in the three facilities. Of the 67 in-hospital deaths, infection was the most common cause of death (30%), followed by sudden cardiac death (SCD) (15%), senility/cachexia (15%), heart failure (12%), and malignancy (9%). In the out-of-hospital deaths, there were no cases of infection, and SCD accounted for the majority (59%), followed by senility/cachexia (11%), heart failure (7%), stroke (4%), and malignancy (4%). Limiting to SCD, patients who died outside the hospital were significantly younger and had a higher prevalence of ischemic heart disease than those who died in hospital.ConclusionsThe in-hospital death rate for PD patients was lower than that previously reported for dialysis patients and similar to that of the Japanese population. Based on the place and cause of death in PD patients, to further increase the death rate at home, which many PD patients would have preferred, it may be necessary to prevent infectious diseases, strengthen interventions for patients at high risk of SCD, and shift to home care for patients with senility/cachexia and malignancies.