Table 3 Comparison between patients with and without increase in haemoglobin

Age (years)

73.7 ± 14.5

70.2 ± 14.5

0.28

Gender (male/female)

22/15

34/12

0.24

Haemodialysis time (hours/week)

15.6 ± 3.6

16.2 ± 4.6

0.57

Intradialytic ultrafiltration rate (ml/hour/kg)

8.7 ± 2.7

8.9 ± 3.2

0.78

Kt/v

2.0 ± 2.0

1.7 ± 0.5

0.34

Erythrocyte creatine (μmol/gHb)

2.04 ± 0.64

1.52 ± 0.39

0.0001

ESA dose (units/kg/week)

125.3 ± 67.8

88.8 ± 50.2

0.006

Erythropoietin resistance index (units/kg/week/g/dL)

13.8 ± 8.7

8.4 ± 5.2

0.0008

Anaemia (present/absent)

19/18 (51%)

8/38 (17%)

0.001

Haemoglobin (g/dL)

9.73 ± 1.34

10.79 ± 0.31

0.0001

Haemoglobin at 3 months (g/dL)

10.47 ± 1.35

10.17 ± 1.03

0.25

Reticulocyte (%)

16.7 ± 4.4

14.4 ± 5.0

0.02

Haptoglobin (g/dL)

88.5 ± 51.1

97.3 ± 50.4

0.46

Transferrin saturation (%)

27.8 ± 17.1

27.8 ± 15.6

0.99

Ferritin (ng/mL)

113.6 ± 101.3

127.5 ± 111.2

0.56

Iron deficiency (present/ absent)

26/11 (70%)

21/25 (45%)

0.02

Iron supplement (present/ absent)

12/25 (32%)

10/36 (22%)

0.27

Intact parathyroid hormone (pg/mL)

160.86 ± 109.4

145.50 ± 96.27

0.49

C-reactive protein (mg/dL)

0.32 ± 0.37

0.32 ± 0.31

0.96