Important cost differences of blood transfusions and erythropoietin between hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients.

Based on our previous study [House AA, Pham B, Pagé DE. Perit Dial Int 1997; 17(Suppl 1):S74.], we compared the costs of blood transfusions and erythropoietin for 90 peritoneal-dialysis (PD) patients with those of 90 hemodialysis (HD) patients over a 1-year period. The mean monthly transfusion rate was higher in the HD group (0.47 units per month versus 0.19 per month for the PD group: P < 0.01). The maintenance erythropoietin dose was higher for HD (7370 units/week versus 5970 units/week: P < 0.01). There was an average of 507 transfusions per year in the HD group (Cdn $152,280) compared to 205 transfusions per year in the PD group (Cdn $61,500). Since HD patients required more erythropoietin than the PD patients, the cost for the 90 HD patients per year was (Cdn $460,463) compared to (Cdn $361,747) for the 90 PD patients. Combining the annual costs of both blood transfusions and erythropoietin, the 90 patients on HD cost Cdn $189,435 more than the 90 PD patients, a difference of Cdn $2105 per patient.