TY - JOUR T1 - Erythropoietin corrects anaemia and reduces the risk of blood transfusion in people with chronic kidney disease, but has uncertain effects on other patient-level outcomes JF - Evidence Based Medicine JO - Evid Based Med SP - 178 LP - 178 DO - 10.1136/ebmed-2016-110418 VL - 21 IS - 5 AU - David W Johnson Y1 - 2016/10/01 UR - http://ebm.bmj.com/content/21/5/178.abstract N2 - Commentary on: Cody JD, Hodson EM. Recombinant human erythropoietin versus placebo or no treatment for the anaemia of chronic kidney disease in people not requiring dialysis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2016;(1):CD003266Anaemia frequency and severity worsen with advancing chronic kidney disease (CKD) and are associated with quality-of-life (QOL) impairment, morbidity and mortality.1 Deficient renal erythropoietin production is a major cause and can be corrected by recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) administration.1 This may improve clinical outcomes, including delaying dialysis. Conversely, rhEPO therapy causes hypertension,2 thereby potentially accelerating CKD progression. This systematic review and meta-analysis examined rhEPO effects on clinical outcomes in anaemic, pre-dialysis CKD patients.Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing rhEPO treatment with either placebo … ER -