Patel 2012

Methods	Study design: RCT Study duration: NS
Participants	Setting: Multicentre, long‐term care facilities Country: USA Stage of CKD: Stage 3, 4, or 5 (not on dialysis), eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m², and a stable creatinine over the past 3 months, or CKD Stage 2, GFR 61 to 90 mL/ min/1.73 m² with evidence of kidney damage for longer than 3 months, as defined by structural or functional abnormalities of the kidneys Number: epoetin alfa (118), no treatment (39) Mean age ± SD (years): epoetin alfa (84.1 ± 9.2), no treatment (84.4 ± 10.9) Sex (M/F): epoetin alfa (28/90), no treatment (6/33) Other characteristics: residents of long‐term care facility; Hb < 11.0 g/dL; adequate iron stores Exclusion criteria: NS
Interventions	Treatment group Epoetin alfa SC, 20,000 IU every 2 weeks to Hb level 10.0 to 12.0 g/dL for 6 months Control group No treatment (standard care) Iron supplementation Oral
Outcomes	Primary trial outcome "Safety and efficacy" Outcomes extracted for meta‐analysis All‐cause mortality Transfusion Major cardiovascular events Myocardial infarction Stroke Hypertension
Notes	Funding: Centocor Ortho Trials registration: NCT0337935 Contact with authors: contacted and additional data received
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not described
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not described
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Open‐label
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Not described
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	27/118 lost to follow‐up in epoetin alfa arm (22.9%) and 10/39 lost to follow‐up in standard treatment arm (25.6%)
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Data for major cardiovascular events available
Other bias	High risk	Sponsor on authorship; change in protocol; medical writing assistance by sponsor