Abstract Background Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (S. maltophilia) is being increasingly recognized as an important cause of nosocomial infections, particularly in immunocompromised patients, such as patients undergoing dialysis. S. maltophilia peritonitis is strongly associated with the loss of peritoneal catheter among patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD) owing to its resistance to different groups of antibiotics. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of and risk factors for S. maltophilia peritonitis in patients undergoing PD. Methods This single-center, retrospective, case–control study was conducted between April 2013 and October 2022. Patients who were undergoing PD at Kawashima Hospital and were diagnosed with S. maltophilia peritonitis were included in this study. Controls were randomly selected from among patients who were undergoing PD and were diagnosed with peritonitis caused by microorganisms other than S. maltophilia. The demographic data, clinical characteristics, and initial treatment data of the patients were analyzed to determine the risk factors for PD-related S. maltophilia peritonitis. Results Five patients with S. maltophilia peritonitis and 15 controls (three controls to one case) were included in this study. The incidence of S. maltophilia peritonitis was significantly more frequent among patients with diabetes mellitus (80.0% vs. 20.0%; p = 0.031) and among patients with higher white blood cell counts in the dialysate after appropriate antibiotic therapy (2561/µL [349–4654/µL] vs. 20/µL [20–23/µL]; p = 0.0006) than among the control patients. Although all the patients were treated with appropriate antibiotics after the identification of S. maltophilia, they had a significantly higher rate of catheter removal than the controls (80.0% vs. 0.0%; p = 0.001). Conclusions Diabetes mellitus may be an important risk factor for S. maltophilia peritonitis in patients undergoing PD.
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