Anemia is a common complication of chronic kidney disease which is typically treated with recombinant human erythropoietin. However the ideal goal hemoglobin is not well established. This study looks to answer if a lower-goal hemoglobin CKD patients shows decreased adverse side effects of epoetin alfa without a decrease in quality of life.

Some questions to consider while reviewing this article:

• Does this patient population have external validity to the Olive View population?
• Are there underlying patient characteristics that might make a lower target hemoglobin favorable?
• What limitations does this study have?