The effect of altitude on dosing and response to erythropoietin in ESRD

MA Brookhart, S Schneeweiss, J Avorn… - Journal of the …, 2008 - journals.lww.com
For poorly understood reasons, patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) differ
substantially in their response to treatment with recombinant erythropoietin (EPO). Because
hypoxia influences many of the biologic pathways involved in erythropoiesis, the altitude at
which a patient lives may affect the dose-response relationship of EPO. In this retrospective
cohort study, clinical data from 341,737 incident hemodialysis patients registered in the US
Renal Data System were combined with elevation data from the US Geological Survey to …