Peritoneal dialysis in the far East--an astonishing situation in 2008.

The dialysis treatment rate varies tremendously in the Far East Asian countries, influenced by the economic status of those countries. The peritoneal dialysis (PD) utilization rate also varies greatly, ranging from 80% in Hong Kong to 3.5% in Japan. In certain low-economy countries, PD is rarely practiced. In recent years, PD utilization has been growing very fast in several countries, particularly China and Vietnam. New policies to encourage a shift from hemodialysis to PD have been undertaken recently in several countries such as Taiwan and Thailand, with a resultant rapid increase in patients on PD. The background and reasons for those changes are discussed.