Smoking is a risk factor for endogenous peritonitis in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis.

BACKGROUND Peritonitis is one of the most common complications in patients who are undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD). However, it is difficult to predict or prevent the onset of endogenous peritonitis. In this study, we investigated the risk of developing endogenous peritonitis in patients receiving PD. METHODS We included all of the patients who underwent PD at our hospital from April 2015 to March 2020. There were 22 cases of peritonitis, including 18 cases of endogenous peritonitis without evidence of exit-site infection or technical failure. We considered older age, female sex, obesity, diabetes mellitus, diverticulosis, and constipation as important risk factors for endogenous peritonitis. We included these as confounding factors with a current or previous history of smoking in univariate logistic regression models. RESULTS In this study, previous or current history of smoking (p = 0.0065) was the most significant risk factor for endogenous peritonitis in univariate logistic regression model. In addition, smoking was also the most significant independent risk factor for endogenous peritonitis (p = 0.0034) in our multivariate logistic regression models. It was not primary objective that diabetes mellitus was also significant in univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. CONCLUSIONS Smoking is the significant independent risk factor for endogenous peritonitis in patients undergoing PD. The discontinuation of smoking may lower the risk of endogenous peritonitis in this patient group.