Worsening outcomes associated with anemia in patients with CKD
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Heart failure hospitalizations and eGFR decline are associated with anemic patients with chronic kidney disease, according to an abstract from the virtual National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings.
“Anemia is a frequently observed complication of CKD that has been associated with increased mortality and hospitalization and poor health-related quality of life,” Eric T. Wittbrodt, PharmD, MPH, of AstraZeneca in Gaithersburg, Maryland, wrote in the abstract. “The presence of anemia is associated with more advanced CKD stage.”
Wittbrodt and colleagues conducted a retrospective observational study to evaluate data from MarketScan and electronic medical records between January 2012 and June 2018. The study included 22,720 adults (mean follow-up of 3.36 years) with CKD and an eGFR of 60 mL/min/1.73m2. Anemia was defined as hemoglobin less than 10 g/dL within 6 months of confirmed CKD to identify patients eligible for active treatment.
Baseline patient characteristics and clinical outcomes during follow-up were analyzed.
Of the 22,720 patients, 23% had anemia with most patients having CKD stage 3a or 3b. Common comorbidities for patients with vs. without anemia were dyslipidemia (52.6% and 59.1%, respectively), type 2 diabetes (42% and 37.9%, respectively), heart failure (31.4% and 16.1%, respectively) and stroke (22.9% and 16.7%, respectively).
A significantly greater proportion of patients with anemia were hospitalized for heart failure compared to those without (5.9% vs. 3.7%), experienced a 40% decrease in eGFR (44.1% vs. 25.1%) and had CKD stage progression (66.6% vs. 59.4%) during follow-up. The median annual change in eGFR slope for the cohort was -0.6 mL/min/1.73m2 and -0.3 mL/min/1.73m2 in patients with and without anemia, respectively.
“This large U.S. cohort study highlights the worsened outcomes associated with anemia. Comorbidities are prevalent in patients with anemia and adequate management of these patients is an important clinical consideration,” the researchers wrote. “Future studies warrant the evaluation of clinical outcomes in patients with CKD and anemia treated with novel, transformative therapies.” – by Erin T. Welsh
Reference:
Wittbrodt ET, et al. Abstract #196. Presented at: National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings; March 26-29, 2020 (virtual meeting).
Disclosures: Wittbrodt and colleagues report being employees and stockholders for AstraZeneca.
Collapse
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts