Treatment Inertia and Symptom Burden in Anemia of CKD: Insights from the SATISFY Survey in the Middle East, South Africa, and Türkiye.

Introduction: Limited data exist regarding treatment patterns and symptom burden of patients with anemia of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the Middle East, South Africa, and Türkiye.

Methods: This real-world study explored clinical characteristics, symptom burden, and treatment patterns of patients with anemia of CKD living in the Middle East, South Africa, and Türkiye. Physician and patient perceptions of treatment were captured via cross-sectional surveys; patients' clinical characteristics were recorded by retrospective review of medical records.

Results: Data were collected from 1788 patients and 217 physicians. A high proportion of patients had never received treatment for their anemia (n = 701, 39.2%); the most common treatment was erythropoietin-stimulating agents (ESAs) + intravenous iron (n = 457, 50.3%). High symptom burden was reported, with lack of energy being the most common symptom (n = 394, 75.6% treated and n = 133, 59.9% non-treated patients). Patients' self-reported symptom burden was higher than physician-reported burden; less agreement was seen for non-dialysis-dependent (NDD) patients (kappa = 0.193, standard deviation [SD]: 0.081) than dialysis-dependent (DD) patients (kappa = 0.442, SD: 0.103). Median hemoglobin thresholds that physicians reported using for initiating treatment (NDD: <10.5 [interquartile range, 9.5-12.0] g/dL; DD: <9.3 [9.0-10.0] g/dL) were higher than actual test levels at treatment initiation (NDD: 9.2 [8.7-10.0] g/dL; DD: 9.0 [8.1-10.0] g/dL).

Conclusion: Treatment inertia is apparent despite high symptom burden in the Middle East, South Africa, and Türkiye, and disagreement was seen in physician and patient perspectives on symptomology. Improved awareness of this disagreement may help facilitate physician-patient dialogue to improve patient experience.