Management of cancer-related anemia: epoetin alfa and quality of life.

Anemia is frequent and significantly adds to the morbidity of cancer patients, and has been associated with decreased quality of life (QOL). Three open-label community-based studies of epoetin alfa in cancer-related anemia (two using three-times-weekly dosing and one using once-weekly dosing) in more than 7,000 patients have been performed. Results indicate that epoetin alfa treatment significantly increases hemoglobin and reduces transfusion requirements by 8 to 12 weeks, and using quality assessment tools, it has been shown to be associated with improvement in QOL scores. Incremental analysis demonstrated that the greatest improvement in QOL outcomes was associated with an increase in hemoglobin level from 11 g/dL to 12 g/dL (range, 11 to 13 g/dL). Strategies for management of anemia may need to take into account the possible advantage of early intervention in improving functional status in cancer patients.