Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Mar;15(1):253-60.
doi: 10.4314/ahs.v15i1.33.

Anemia in patients on chronic hemodialysis in Cameroon: prevalence, characteristics and management in low resources setting

Francois Folefack Kaze  1 , Andre-Pascal Kengne  2 , Alex Tatang Mambap  1 , Marie-Patrice Halle  3 , Dora Mbanya  4 , Gloria Ashuntantang  1
Affiliations

Anemia in patients on chronic hemodialysis in Cameroon: prevalence, characteristics and management in low resources setting

Francois Folefack Kaze et al. Afr Health Sci. 2015 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Anemia is a common complication of chronic kidney disease. We investigated the prevalence, characteristics and management of anemia in patients on chronic hemodialysis and assessed the response to blood-transfusion based management in Cameroon.

Methods: This was a cohort study of five months' duration (August-December 2008) conducted at the Yaoundé General Hospital's hemodialysis center, involving 95 patients (67 men, 70.5%) on chronic hemodialysis by a native arteriovenous fistula. A monthly evaluation included full blood counts, number of pints of red cell concentrates transfused, and vital status.

Results: At baseline, 75 (79%) patients had anemia which was microcytic and hypochromic in 32 (43%). Anemia was corrected in 67 (70.5%) patients using blood transfusion only, while 28 (29.5%) patients were receiving erythropoietin (11 regularly, 39%). Only 77.2% of 342 pints (median 3.0, range 0-17 per patients) of red cell concentrates prescribed were effectively received during the follow-up at an unacceptably high cost to patients and families. Mean hemoglobin and mean corpuscular hemoglobin levels remained stable during follow-up, while mean corpuscular volume increased. Erythropoietin treatment was the main determinant of favorable trajectories of hematological markers.

Conclusions: Patients on chronic hemodialysis have predominantly microcytic hypochromic anemia, with limited capacity for correction using blood transfusion.

Keywords: Anemia; Blood transfusion; End stage renal disease; Hemodialysis; Sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Baseline characteristics of the anemia overall, and by sex and status for erythropoietin (EPO treatment
Figure 2
Figure 2
Trajectories of hematological parameters during follow-up
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Thomas MC, MacIsaac RJ, Tsalamandris C, et al. The burden of anaemia in type 2 diabetes and the role of nephropathy: a cross-sectional audit. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2004 Jul;19(7):1792–1797. - PubMed
    1. Afshar R, Sanavi S, Salimi J, Ahmadzadeh M. Hematological profile of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients in Iran, in pre-dialysis stages and after initiation of hemodialysis. Saudi J Kidney Dis Transpl. 2010 Mar;21(2):368–371. - PubMed
    1. Suega K, Bakta M, Dharmayudha TG, Lukman JS, Suwitra K. Profile of anemia in chronic renal failure patients: comparison between predialyzed and dialyzed patients at the Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Sanglah Hospital, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia. Acta Med Indones. 2005 Oct-Dec;37(4):190–194. - PubMed
    1. Astor BC, Muntner P, Levin A, Eustace JA, Coresh J. Association of kidney function with anemia: the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988–1994) Arch Intern Med. 2002 Jun 24;162(12):1401–1408. - PubMed
    1. McClellan W, Aronoff SL, Bolton WK, et al. The prevalence of anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease. Curr Med Res Opin. 2004 Sep;20(9):1501–1510. - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources