Prevalence, treatment patterns, and healthcare resource utilization in Medicare and commercially insured non-dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease patients with and without anemia in the United States

BACKGROUND: Anemia is common in non-dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease (NDD-CKD) patients, but detailed information on prevalence and treatment is lacking. METHODS: We evaluated anemia prevalence and treatment using two datasets: the Medicare 20% random sample (ages 66–85 years), and the Truven Health MarketScan database (ages 18–63 years). We selected stage 3–5 NDD-CKD patients with and without anemia from both databases during 2011–2013. We evaluated anemia prevalence and treatment (erythropoietin stimulating agents [ESAs], intravenous [IV] iron, red blood cell [RBC] transfusions) following anemia diagnosis during a 1-year baseline period, and healthcare utilization during a 1-year follow-up period. We used Poisson regression models to compare healthcare utilization in patients with and without anemia, adjusting for demographics, baseline comorbid conditions, inflammatory conditions, and CKD stage. RESULTS: We identified 218,079 older and 56,188 younger stage 3–5 NDD-CKD patients. Anemia prevalence increased with age in both datasets; was higher in women, black patients (Medicare only), and patients with comorbid conditions; and rose sharply with increasing CKD stage. Of 15,716 younger anemic patients, 11.7%, 10.8%, and 9.4% were treated with RBC transfusion, ESAs, and IV iron, respectively. Corresponding proportions of 109,251 older anemic patients were 22.2%, 12.7%, and 6.7%. Regardless of age, anemic patients were more likely than non-anemic patients to use healthcare resources, including hospitalizations and emergency department, hematologist, nephrologist, and outpatient visits. Anemic NDD-CKD patients were more likely to be treated with RBC transfusion than with ESAs or IV iron. CONCLUSION: More research is necessary to determine best approaches to anemia management in CKD. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12882-018-0861-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.