Peritoneal dialysis modality transition and impact on phosphate and potassium serum levels

Peritoneal dialysis (PD) modalities affect solute removal differently. However, the impacts of switching PD modalities on serum levels of biomarkers of different sizes are not known. Our objective was to analyze whether a change in the PD modality associates with the levels of two routine biochemical laboratories. In this multicentric prospective cohort study. we selected all patients who remained on a PD modality for at least 6 months and switched PD modality. Patients were also required to be treated with the same PD modality for at least 3 months before and after the modality change. The primary outcome was change in potassium and phosphate serum levels. We identified 737 eligible patients who switched their PD modality during the study. We found mean serum phosphate levels increased during the 3 months after switching from CAPD to APD and conversely decreased after switching to from APD to CAPD. In contrast, for potassium the difference in the mean serum levels was comparable between groups switching from CAPD to APD, and vice versa. In conclusion, CAPD seems to be as efficient as APD for the control of potassium serum levels, but more effective for the control of phosphate serum levels. The effect of a higher removal of middle size molecules as result of PD modalities in terms of clinical and patient-reported outcomes should be further explored.