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Peritonitis is one of the major comorbidities of peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. The aim of this study was to concentrate on potential risk factors, including more recently studied ones among the classical ones for peritonitis, in PD patients.We analysed 109 patients (F/M = 42/67) followed up at least for 3 months in a single centre, a tertiary referral hospital for 360.1 patient years. In the study which is designed as a retrospective cohort study, demographic characteristics, conditions for choosing PD, type of PD treatment, some chemical tests and peritonitis episodes were recorded from the files of the patients.The rate of peritonitis was found to be 0.22 episode/patient year and 22 (20.18%) of the patients had more than one episode. Twenty seven (24.8%) of the patients were allocated to PD due to obligatory reasons. According to multiple regression analysis, the associated factors were found to be PD allocation type (obligatory versus voluntary) (p = 0.04; RR = 2.6), serum albumin level (p = 0.05; RR = 1.2), and anti-hepatitis C Virus Antibody positivity (p = 0.03; RR = 1.6). Frequency of female patients were significantly higher in the group who had multiple episodes (p = 0.01).Obligatory referral which can be an indication of loss of motivation for peritoneal dialysis procedures, is thought to be a strong risk factor for peritonitis in PD patients and should be further studied. Patients with multiple episodes had a higher frequency of obligatory referral as expected and additionally, they were higher in number of females when compared to the ones with single episode.

Colchicine has been in use for therapeutic purposes for many years. It can, however, cause subacute onset muscle and peripheral nerve toxicity in patients with chronic renal failure. In this report we describe 6 patients who developed neuromyopathy after the administration of colchicine. All patients presented with proximal muscle weakness, elevated serum creatine kinase (CK) levels, and neuropathy and/or myopathy on electromyography (EMG). The diagnosis of colchicine toxicity was confirmed in all cases by the normalization of CK levels and EMG after discontinuation of the drug. Toxicity developed in 4 renal failure patients on therapeutic doses of the drug, while one patient took a massive dose for suicidal reasons, and the other was on high-dose therapy. Patients using colchicine--especially those with renal failure--should be warned about the side effects of the drug and physicians should be careful in the administration of the drug.