The Potential Benefits of Pegylated Erythropoietin in Lowering Anemia in Individuals with Chronic Kidney Disease

Background: The clinical debut of erythropoiesis-stimulating medicines (ESAs) radically altered anaemia care. The effect of erythropoietin (EPO), pegylated erythropoietin and mircera on anaemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients receiving continuous haemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, or no dialysis was studied in this retrospective analysis. Methods: The retrospective analysis comprised of 490 CKD patients with erythropoietin hyporesponsiveness who were either on haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis or not on dialysis. The patients’ records were separated into three groups: (a) those with CKD 3-5 (without dialysis), (b) those on haemodialysis, and (c) those on peritoneal dialysis (PD). Serum ferritin, haemoglobin, and transferrin saturation were measured. Serum ferritin was determined using a two-site sandwich immunoassay based on direct chemiluminometric technique, which employs two antiferritin antibodies at constant concentrations that are collated and statistically observed using bivariate analysis. Result: The participants’ mean ages were 46.9±20.4, 60.5±9.7, and 48.2±10.1 years for peritoneal dialysis patients, CKD patients on haemodialysis, and CKD 3-5 patients without dialysis, respectively. In all categories, hypertension was the most common cause of CKD, followed by type 2 diabetes. Patients on peritoneal dialysis have higher haemoglobin (Hb) levels than patients on haemodialysis (P 0.016), but there is no statistically significant difference between patients on peritoneal dialysis and patients not on dialysis. The analysis revealed that there was a substantial increase in Hb from 8.8±1.2 to 10.9±1.2 g/dl in all groups (p 0.05). Conclusion: Pegylated erythropoietin outperforms mircera in overcoming erythropoietin hyporesponsiveness and maintaining stable haemoglobin levels in dialysis-dependent CKD patients. This is a retrospective analysis hence it may not reflect the true status of the population and is less likely to generalise the findings; consequently, more research is needed.