Patient-reported Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Patients with Peritoneal Dialysis: the Prevalence, Influence Factors and Association with Quality of Life

Background: The aims of this study were to investigate the prevalence and the influence factors of gastrointestinal symptoms, and its association with the quality of life (QOL) in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients.

Methods: Continuous ambulatory PD patients (CAPD) who followed up in our PD center between March 2016 and December 2017 were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Gastrointestinal symptom rating scale (GSRS) was used to evaluate gastrointestinal symptoms. The related clinical data were also collected. Multiple linear regression analysis was test for the influence factors associated with score of GSRS and QOL.

Results: This study included 471 CAPD patients. The mean age was 48.5±13.9 years, 53.9% were male and 15.1% with diabetic nephropathy. The median duration of PD was 37.3 (17.5~66.5) months. The median score of GSRS was 1.2(1.1~1.3) scores. Totally 82.2% (n=387) CAPD patients had at least one gastrointestinal symptom. Higher glycosylated hemoglobin, higher score of depression, lower diastolic blood pressure, urine output, score of instrumental activities of daily living scale and more amount of pills per day were independently associated with higher score of GSRS (all P<0.05). Score of dyspepsia and eating dysfunction were independently associated with worse score of QOL and physical health (all P<0.05).

Conclusions: Gastrointestinal symptoms were common but not serious in CAPD patients. Glycemic control, depression, blood pressure, urine output, activity of daily life and amount of pills were all associated with gastrointestinal symptoms. Moreover, gastrointestinal symptoms were correlated with QOL of PD patients.