Long‐term CAPD patients are volume expanded and display more severe left ventricular hypertrophy than haemodialysis patients

Background. Whether hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) are more prevalent in CAPD than in haemodialysis (HD) patients is still under discussion. Methods. To examine this problem we compared a group of 51 CAPD patients, with a group of 201 HD patients. The evaluation included the measurement of atrial natriuretic peptide (atrial natriuretic factor (ANF)), taken as indicator of volume status, and echocardiographic measurements. Results. CAPD patients were older, had been treated for a shorter time, and had lower serum albumin and phosphate than HD patients. Plasma ANF was higher (P