Greater epoetin alfa responsiveness is associated with improved survival in hemodialysis patients.

Background and Objectives: Among hemodialysis patients, achieved hemoglobin is associated with Epoetin alfa dose and erythropoietin responsiveness. A prospective erythropoietin responsiveness measure was developed and its association with mortality evaluated.
Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: Data from 321 participants were used and randomized to the hematocrit normalization arm of the Normal Hematocrit Cardiac Trial. Subjects were to receive a 50% Epoetin alfa dose increase at randomization. The prospective erythropoietin responsiveness measure was defined as the ratio of weekly hematocrit change (over the 3 wk after randomization) per Epoetin alfa dose increase (1000 IU/wk) corresponding to the mandated 50% dose increase at randomization. The distribution of responsiveness was divided into quartiles. Over a 1-yr follow-up, Cox proportional hazard modeling evaluated associations between this responsiveness measure and mortality.
Results: Erythropoietin responsiveness values ranged from -2.1% to 2.4% per week per 1000 IU. Although subjects were similar across response quartiles, mortality ranged between 14% and 34% among subjects in the highest and lowest response quartiles (P = 0.0004), respectively. After adjusting for baseline prognostic indicators, highest versus lowest responsiveness was associated with a hazard ratio of 0.41 (95% confidence interval, 0.20 to 0.87).
Conclusion: Lower erythropoietin responsiveness is a strong, independent predictor of mortality risk and should be considered when evaluating associations between clinical outcomes and potential prognostic indicators, such as Epoetin alfa dose and achieved hemoglobin values.