Therapeutic Efficacy of Erythropoietin Alpha and Erythropoietin Beta in Anemia of Chronic Kidney Disease.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of erythropoietin alpha and erythropoietin beta in anemia management in the hemodialysis population.

Study Design: Quasi-experimental study.

Place And Duration Of Study: Department of Nephrology, The Kidney Center Postgraduate Training Institute (TKC-PGTI), Karachi, from December 2019 to July 2020.

Methodology: All participants were initially started on erythropoietin alpha and then converted to erythropoietin beta after three months. The effectiveness of the erythropoietin alpha and erythropoietin beta was calculated on the basis of net change of mean hemoglobin and mean hematocrit level in the last four weeks on either erythropoietin therapy.

Results: A total of 80 patients completed the study, in which 47 (58.8%) were males while 33 (41.3%) were females. The mean age was 59.7 ± 14.7 years. The net mean hemoglobin change during last 04 weeks was  ̶ 0.19 ± 1.2 and  ̶ 0.03 ± 1.0 for erythropoietin alpha and erythropoietin erythropoietin beta, respectively (p = 0.41). The net mean hematocrit change during the last four weeks was  ̶ 0.45 ± 3.9 and  ̶ 0.49 ± 3.7 for erythropoietin alpha and erythropoietin beta, respectively (p = 0.95). The mean weekly erythropoietin dosage per Kg body weight during the last four weeks was 177.6 ± 130.4 IU/Kg/week for erythropoietin alpha and 121.3 ± 69.6 IU/Kg/week for erythropoietin beta (p = <0.001).

Conclusion: Erythropoietin alpha and erythropoietin beta have similar therapeutic efficacy in anemia management in chronic kidney disease patients. Reduced dosage of erythropoietin beta achieves and maintains the target hemoglobin level. Key Words: Efficacy, Erythropoietin, Anemia, Chronic kidney disease.