Renal patients are prone to malnutrition. This is of particular concern in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis because of the loss of protein in the dialysate. Data comparing the adequacy of continuous cycling peritoneal dialysis (CCPD) and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) are few. To compare nutritional status and dialysis adequacy, 32 patients were studied (19 CAPD, 13 CCPD). Weight change, dietary intake, degree of edema, and laboratory parameters (hemoglobin, albumin, urea, creatinine) were assessed. Dialysis efficiency was compared using urea and creatinine kinetics [KT/V(urea), normalized protein catabolic rate (PCRN), efficacy number, weekly creatinine clearance]. Age was similar in each group [CAPD 56.5 years (34-75 years); CCPD 53.5 years (14-76 years)]. There were no significant differences in hemoglobin, albumin [29 +/- 1.3 g/L CAPD; 32 +/- 1.5 g/L CCPD (mean +/- SEM)], urea, or creatinine between groups, nor in KT/V (1.72 +/- 0.15 CAPD; 1.93 +/- 0.17 CCPD) and PCRN (0.79 +/- 0.05 CAPD; 0.97 +/- 0.08 CCPD). The efficacy number was significantly higher in the CCPD patients (6.95 +/- 0.66 CAPD; 9.93 +/- 1.3 CCPD; p = 0.03). This study indicates that the nutritional status of CCPD patients at our center was similar to that of CAPD patients. Adequacy of dialysis was also similar in CCPD patients as compared with CAPD patients.