Objective To investigate the risk factors of high peritoneal transport characteristics in patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing initial continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. Method The clinical data of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis patients who underwent initial peritoneal dialysis and catheterization in the Department of Nephrology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University from January 2011 to December 2017 and completed the peritoneal equilibration test were collected retrospectively. According to the ratio of dialysate to plasma ratio for creatinine at 4 hour [D/Pcr (4h)] in the standard peritoneal equilibration test, the patients were divided into 4 groups (low transport, low average transport, high average transport and high transport). Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the related factors of D/Pcr (4h). The risk factors of high peritoneal transport characteristics were analyzed by ordered multi classification logistic regression. Results A total of 647 patients were included. The average age of the patients was (45.85±14.03) years, and the average D/Pcr (4h) was 0.67±0.12. Among them, there were 89 cases (13.76%) in the high transport group, 280 cases (43.28%) in the high average transport group, 234 cases (36.17%) in the low average transport group and 44 cases (6.80%) in the low transport group. Diabetic patients with D/Pcr (4h) were higher than those without diabetes mellitus (0.72±0.12 vs. 0.66±0.12; t=−4.005, P<0.001). Correlation analysis showed that age and 24-h urine volume were positively correlated with D/Pcr (4h); serum albumin, triglyceride, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, hemoglobin, serum uric acid and creatinine were negatively correlated with D/Pcr (4h); body surface area (BSA), high sensitivity C-reactive protein, ferritin, cholesterol, sodium, intact parathyroid hormone and estimated giomerular filtration rate had no correlation with D/Pcr (4h). Regression analysis showed that serum albumin [odds ratio (OR)=0.842, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.809, 0.877), P<0.001], serum uric acid [OR=0.996, 95%CI (0.994, 0.998), P<0.001], magnesium [OR=0.389, 95%CI (0.156, 0.965), P=0.042], BSA [OR=3.916, 95%CI (1.121, 13.680), P=0.032] were correlated with the incidence of peritoneal high transport characteristics. Conclusion Low serum albumin, high BSA, low magnesium and low serum uric acid were independent risk factors for high transport characteristics in initial PD patients.