Therapeutic targets for the anemia of predialysis chronic kidney disease: a meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials

Anemia is one of the major complications in predialysis patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). A clearer cognition of the prognostic impact of hemoglobin (Hb) or hematocrit (Hct) target on the outcomes of predialysis patients with CKD is significant. This article aims to establish the suitable hemoglobin target to provide clinical guidance. MEDLINE, EmBase, the Cochrane Library and other databases were searched with both MeSH terms and keywords to gather researches that assessed all-cause mortality, stroke, treatment of renal replacement, and transfusion. The meta-analysis was accomplished via Revman 5.3 version. Totally, 13 eligible studies involving 7606 patients were included. There was a significantly lower risk of transfusion (risk ratio (RR) 0.59, 95% CI 0.52 to 0.67; p