Characteristics of registered research in peritoneal dialysis: Past and present.

Recent national policy changes in the United States and the continued growth of peritoneal dialysis (PD) as a therapy for end-stage kidney disease has renewed interest in this modality. The objective of this study was to describe the current landscape of PD clinical trials to assess trends and gaps in clinical research. An advanced search was completed through ClinicalTrials.gov, yielding 248 studies. Descriptive statistics and Fisher exact tests were used for statistical analysis. Most studies were completed (197, 79.4%), did not indicate a phase (143, 57.7%), were academically sponsored (156, 62.9%), or conducted in Asia (88, 35.5%). There has been overall growth in PD clinical trials since 1995. The type of phase was related to study location (p = 0.008). The type of study intervention was related to study recruitment status, sponsor type, and primary outcome (p = 0.030, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, respectively). Despite growth in PD research worldwide, more studies are being conducted outside the U.S., and static investment in U.S. government-sponsored PD research risks not achieving the goal of increasing availability of home dialysis.