Effect of anaemia on mortality, cardiovascular hospitalizations and end‐stage renal disease among patients with chronic kidney disease

SUMMARY Objective: To determine whether an independent association exists between anaemia and chronic kidney disease (CKD) outcomes in a quasi‐incidence cohort when patients' most recent laboratory values are considered. Methods: We conducted a dynamic, retrospective cohort study among patients with incident CKD in a large health maintenance organization administrative data set. CKD was defined by two estimated glomerular filtration rates (eGFR). We measured the absolute rates for all‐cause mortality, cardiovascular hospitalizations and end‐stage renal disease. Results: Our completed cases Cox regression model followed 5885 patients with both CKD and haemoglobin measures. For patients with the most severe anaemia (haemoglobin <10.5 g/dL), we estimated an increased rate of mortality (hazard ratio (HR) = 5.27, CI 4.37–6.35), cardiovascular hospitalizations (HR = 2.18, CI 1.76–2.70) and end‐stage renal disease (HR = 5.46, CI 3.38–8.82) when compared with patients who were not anaemic; the HR reflect time‐varying haemoglobins and eGFR. Conclusion: Anaemia is a predictor of excess mortality, excess cardiovascular hospitalizations and excess end‐stage renal disease even when the progression of CKD is considered by controlling for time‐varying eGFR values.