Survival Analysis of Iranian Patients Undergoing Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis Using Cure Model

Background: Peritoneal dialysis is one of the most prevalent types of dialysis pre-scribed to the patients suffering from renal failure. Studies on the factors affecting the survival of these patients have mainly used log-rank test and Cox analysis. The present study aimed to investigate the risk factors affecting short- and long term survival of patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) using cure model. Methods: The data obtained retrospectively from 20 medical centers in Iran, between 1996 and 2009. All patients with renal failure who had been treated by CAPD and fol-lowed at least 3 months were included in the study. The STATA (11.0) software and CUREREGR module were used for survival analysis using cure model. Results: Totally 2006 patients were included in this study. The major reasons for renal failure were hypertension (35.4%) and diabetes (33.6%). The median of survival time was 4.8 years with a 95% confidence interval of 4.3 to 5.6 years. The percentage of long-lived patients surviving was 40% (95% CI: 32%, 47%). The analysis showed that the effect of diabetes, serum albumin level, age, diastolic blood pressure, and medical center was significant on the long-term survival of the patients. In addition, in short-term survival the effects of age, albumin, and medical center were significant Conclusions: By improving the quality of medical care in centers, nutritional status, controlling co-morbidities can help the patients on CAPD with better health and increase their short and long term survival.