Anaemia Management in Chronic Kidney Disease: National Clinical Guideline for Management in Adults and Children

Excerpt

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is not the most common cause of anaemia in the UK, but data from different sources suggest that nationally there are around 100,000 people with the combination of CKD and a low haemoglobin level. Anaemia in this context is important because it contributes significantly to the heavy symptom burden of CKD, and because it is potentially reversible with appropriate treatment, including erythropoietin. Erythropoietin is naturally produced by the kidneys and has been available in synthetic form for the treatment of anaemia of CKD since 1989, but it remains a fairly expensive product and its usage is not straightforward. Moreover, it will not necessarily be the only therapy required for optimal treatment. Against this background, the present guideline has been commissioned to address the appropriate management of anaemia of CKD for patients in the NHS.