Table 2.

Adjusted covariates of included studies

Author	Adjusted covariates
	Demographic data	Comorbid conditions	Laboratory	Medication	Hospitalization	Other Hb parameters
Weinhandl (2011)	Age, sex, race	Primary cause of ESRD, ESRD duration, AHD, CHF, arrhythmia, other cardiac disease, DM, GIB, cerebrovascular accident, TIA, PVD, cancer, COPD, hepatic disease	NM	NM	Cumulative hospitalization days	Number of months with Hb level < 10 g/dL
Weinhandl (2011 p)	Age, sex, race	Primary cause of ESRD, ESRD duration, AHD, CHF, arrhythmia, other cardiac disease, DM, GIB, cerebrovascular accident, TIA, PVD, cancer, COPD, hepatic disease	NM	NM	Cumulative hospitalization days	Number of months with Hb level < 10 g/dL
Weinhandl (2011 i)	Age, sex, race	Primary cause of ESRD, ESRD duration, AHD, CHF, arrhythmia, other cardiac disease, DM, GIB, cerebrovascular accident, TIA, PVD, cancer, COPD, hepatic disease bleeding, hepatic disease	NM	NM	Cumulative hospitalization days	Number of months with Hb level < 10 g/dL
Brunelli (2008)	BMI, sex, race	DM, hypertension, arterial disease, CHF, cancer	URR, Kt/V, albumin, bicarbonate, calcium, phosphate, creatine, iPTH, ferritin, TS	Intravenous iron dose, EPO dose	NM	Mean Hb, Hb slope
Yang (12)	Age, sex, race	DM, duration of ESRD	URR, Kt/V, albumin, AST, bicarbonate, calcium, phosphate, iPTH, ferritin, TS	Intravenous iron dose, EPO dose	All included subjects with no missing Hb values	Mean Hb, Hb slope

AHD, atherosclerotic heart disease; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; BMI, body mass index; CHF, congestive heart failure; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; DM, diabetes mellitus; EPO, erythropoietin; ESRD, end‐stage renal disease; GIB, gastrointestinal bleeding; Hb, haemoglobin; iPTH, intact parathyroid hormone; NM, not mentioned; PVD, peripheral vascular disease; TIA, transient ischaemic attack; TS, transferrin saturation; URR, urea reduction ratio.