Fungal peritonitis in the Standardizing Care to Improve Outcomes in Pediatric End Stage Renal Disease (SCOPE) Collaborative

Background: Fungal peritonitis is a serious complication among peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. The Standardizing Care to Improve Outcomes in Pediatric End Stage Renal Disease (SCOPE) Collaborative is a North American multicenter quality improvement initiative with the primary aim to reduce catheter-related infections in children on chronic dialysis.

Objective: To describe the epidemiology of fungal peritonitis and outcomes of affected patients among pediatric subjects receiving chronic PD and enrolled in SCOPE.

Methods: Data pertaining to PD characteristics, peritonitis episodes and patient outcome were collected between October 2011 and September 2015 from 30 pediatric dialysis centers participating in the SCOPE collaborative. Peritonitis-related data were stratified by etiology, fungal versus bacterial/culture-negative peritonitis. Differences among groups were assessed by Chi-square analysis.

Results: Of 994 patients enrolled in the registry, there were 511 peritonitis episodes of which 41 (8.0%) were fungal. Thirty-six individual patients with 39 unique catheters accounted for the fungal peritonitis episodes. Twenty-three (59%) of the episodes occurred in patients aged < 2 years (p = 0.03). Fungal peritonitis was the initial episode of peritonitis in 48.8% of affected patients, and only 17.1% of these patients had had a previous peritonitis episode within 30 days of the fungal infection. Insertion of the PD catheter at < 2 years of age was associated with an adjusted odds ratio of 2.8 (95% confidence interval 1.24, 6.31) for development of fungal peritonitis compared to older children (p = 0.01). Fungal peritonitis was associated with an increased rate of hospitalization (80.5 vs. 63.4%; p = 0.03), increased length of hospitalization (median of 8 vs. 5 days; p < 0.001) and increased rates of catheter removal (84.6 vs 26.9%; p = 0.001) and technique failure (68.3 vs. 8%; p = 0.001) compared to other causes of peritonitis.

Conclusion: Fungal infections were responsible for 8.0% of peritonitis episodes in the SCOPE collaborative, with the majority of fungal peritonitis episodes occurring in children aged < 2 years. Although no risk factors for infection other than young age were identified, fungal peritonitis was associated with an increased risk of hospitalization, longer hospital stay and an increased frequency of technique failure.