Effect of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents on the systolic and diastolic blood pressure of hemodialysis patients

According to a recent study, erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) have been linked to a significant rise in both systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) among hemodialysis patients, resulting in an increase of approximately 5mmHg. This study’s results were published in the journal, Medicina Clinica. 
This study comprised a systematic review and meta-analysis of 34 clinical trial studies found in multiple databases, such as Web of Science, Science Direct, Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Google Scholar, from the years 1980 to 2022. The assessment of article quality was conducted using the Jadad scale checklist, and the data was analyzed utilizing Stata 15 software.
The results demonstrated a significant increase in both SBP and DBP post-ESA consumption compared to pre-consumption levels. The mean difference in SBP was recorded as 4.84mmHg (95% confidence interval: 2.74-6.94, p-value <0.001) and in DBP was 4.69mmHg (95% confidence interval: 2.67-6.71, p-value <0.001). No indication of publication bias was found. The meta-regression analysis indicated that factors such as quality assessment score, sample size, and geographical location of the study played a significant role in the observed heterogeneity in mean SBP difference (p-value ≤0.20). Similarly, for DBP, quality assessment score, sample size, and follow-up duration were identified as significant variables (p-value ≤0.20).
The results of the above study demonstrated that ESAs have been associated with a notable increase in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in hemodialysis patients, leading to a rise of around 5mmHg.