Prevalence and Etiology of Anemia in Renal Transplant Recipients

Anemia prevalence was 41.5%, 35.3%, and 93.2% at 3, 5, and 10 years, respectively. Anemic patients had higher creatinine levels for all years. In the anemic patients, hemoglobin values were lower in the pretransplant period than at 3 and 5 years. Anemic patients had higher HLA mismatches for the same years. Three-year hemoglobin levels were positively correlated with pretransplant hemoglobin and negatively correlated with creatinine levels and HLA mismatches. Five-year hemoglobin levels were positively correlated with pretransplant hemoglobin and albumin levels. Ten-year hemoglobin levels were positively correlated with pretransplant hemoglobin and albumin values but negatively correlated with creatinine levels and HLA mismatches. The prevalence of anemia in renal transplant recipients increases in parallel with posttransplant duration. Hemoglobin levels in these patients are closely related with pretransplant hemoglobin, follow-up creatinine levels, and HLA mismatches.