Erythropoietin Resistance More Likely in Female Dialysis Patients

SAN DIEGO— Erythropoietin hyporesponsiveness is more likely among female than male hemodialysis patients (HD), researchers reported at Kidney Week.

Daqing Hong, MD, of Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences in Sichuan China, and colleagues studied 310 HD patients (163 male and 147 female). They calculated patients’ erythropoietin resistance index (ERI) to assess response to the medication.

Results showed that female patients had a significantly higher mean ERI than male patients (28.8 vs. 20.2 U/kg/week/g/dL). The mean dosage of erythropoietin was higher in female than male subjects (14,934 vs. 13,353 units), but the difference was not statistically significant.

The investigators divided patients into 3 groups according to ERI tertiles and found no gender differences in parathyroid hormone, ferritin, Kt/V, and age among the groups.