The Journal for Nurse Practitioners
Volume 4, Issue 3 , Pages 194-200, March 2008

Diagnosis and Treatment of Anemia of Chronic Kidney Disease in the Primary Care Setting: A Primer for Nurse Practitioners

  • Cheryl Dalton

      Affiliations

    • Cheryl Dalton, BSN, RN, CNN, CCRC, is a nephrology research nurse in the section of nephrology at West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, West Virginia. discloses receiving grant/research support from Roche Laboratories.
    • ,
  • Rebecca Schmidt

      Affiliations

    • Rebecca Schmidt, DO, FACP, FASN, is professor and chief of the section of nephrology at West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, West Virginia. She discloses receiving grants/research support from Roche Laboratories and serving as a consultant to Roche, Ortho Biotech, and Amgen.

Abstract 

Anemia of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity, health care costs, and mortality. Both early CKD and its attendant anemia may be asymptomatic and thus often go undetected. Appropriate anemia treatment may improve cardiovascular prognosis, physical activity, and quality of life in CKD patients not requiring dialysis. Primary care nurse practitioners are ideally positioned to detect and treat CKD-related anemia. This review discusses the pathophysiology, consequences, and primary detection and management of anemia of CKD.

Keywords:  Anemia , chronic kidney disease , darbepoetin , epoetin , ESAs (erythropoiesis-stimulating agents) , predialysis

 

PII: S1555-4155(07)00611-3

doi:10.1016/j.nurpra.2007.09.013

The Journal for Nurse Practitioners
Volume 4, Issue 3 , Pages 194-200, March 2008

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