Assisted peritoneal dialysis in Europe: a strategy to increase and maintain home dialysis

Margot Reyskens, Alferso C. Abrahams, Karlien François, Anita Van Eck Van Der Sluijs*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a form of kidney replacement therapy with the major advantage that it can be performed at home. This has a positive impact on patients' autonomy and quality of life. However, the dialysis population is ageing and physical and/or cognitive impairments are common. These limitations often form a barrier to PD and contribute to the low incidence and prevalence of PD in Europe. Assisted PD can be a solution to this problem. Assisted PD refers to a patient being assisted by a person or device in performing all or part of their dialysis-related tasks, thereby making PD more accessible to elderly but also younger frail patients. In this way, offering an assisted PD program can help lower the threshold for initiating PD. In this review, we provide an overview of the epidemiology of assisted PD in Europe, we discuss the different categories and clinical outcomes of assisted PD, and we present how assisted PD can be implemented in clinical practice as a possible strategy to increase and maintain home dialysis in Europe.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)i34-i43
JournalClinical Kidney Journal
Volume17
Issue numberS1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2024

Keywords

  • assisted peritoneal dialysis
  • device-assisted
  • home dialysis
  • informal caregiver
  • kidney replacement therapy

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