Haemoglobin and haematocrit targets for the anaemia of chronic kidney disease.

Anaemia affects 60% to 80% of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) reduces quality of life and is a risk factor for early death. Treatment options are blood transfusion, erythropoietin (EPO) and darbepoetin alfa. Recently higher haemoglobin (Hb) and haematocrit (HCT) targets have been widely advocated because of positive associations with improved survival and quality of life from observational studies.