A prospective randomized control study of oral nystatin prophylaxis for Candida peritonitis complicating continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.

A prospective randomized study of the prevention of candida peritonitis (CP) in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis patients using oral nystatin given concomitantly with antibiotic therapy was carried out for 2 years. Patients were randomized into two groups. Nystatin tablets 500,000 units four times a day were given to group 1 but not group 2 patients whenever antibiotics were prescribed. There were 199 patients at risk (mean follow-up, 18.0 months) in group 1 and 198 patients at risk (mean follow-up, 16.6 months) in group 2. The peritonitis and antibiotic prescription rates were comparable between the two groups. There were four episodes of CP in four patients in group 1 and 12 episodes in 11 patients in group 2. The probability of CP-free survival at 2 years was higher in group 1 compared with group 2 (0.974 v 0.915; P < 0.05). However, only three (75%) CP episodes in group 1 and six (50%) in group 2 were considered "antibiotics related." The incidence of antibiotics-related CP was 1.39 and 3.19 per 100 peritonitis episodes and 0.66 and 1.43 per 100 antibiotic prescriptions in groups 1 and 2, respectively (P = NS). We conclude that oral nystatin prophylaxis with each antibiotic prescription reduced the rate of CP in patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis irrespective of its apparent temporal relationship to antibiotic prescription.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes