Variables not associated with peritoneal solute transfer rate in the final model were successively discarded in the following order during the backward stepwise procedure: Daily urine output (p = 0.999), C-reactive protein (p = 0.626), diabetes (p = 0.450), Davies comorbidity score (p = 0.581), hemoglobin (p = 0.333), diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.230), race (p = 0.130), BMI (p = 0.129), body surface area (p = 0.531) and age (p = 0.068). The gene discussed is CRP; the disease is diabetes mellitus.