Are erythropoietin levels in uraemic patients on haemodialysis dependent on the kidney disease and the duration of haemodialysis treatment?

Determinations of immuno-detectable Erythropoietin (idEP), haematocrit (Hct), reticulocyte counts (RC) and serum iron (SI) in uraemic patients with different kidney diseases (KD) and various lengths of chronic haemodialysis treatment (HDT) revealed firstly that all patients had normal idEP, except for analgesic nephropathies who had significantly higher idEP levels; secondly that over six years of haemodialysis idEP increased by about 40% but without concomitant Hct improvement and thirdly that there were no clear interdependencies between Hct, SI, RC and idEP in uraemic patients. In conclusion, inhibitors of erythropoiesis seem to be a major pathogenetic factor in renal anaemia besides a relative deficit in idEP.