Why do Patients with Kidney Disease Suffer from Anemia

Anemia is a common symptom among patients with kidney disease. The incidence of developing anemia rises with the aggravation of kidney disease. According to some researches, anemia affects 28% of patients with mild kidney disease. However, the incidence of anemia among patients with serious anemia is as high as 87%.

As the patients’ renal function declines, the kidneys may mot produce enough erythropoietin that regulates red blood cells production in our body. Erythropoietin is a necessary requirement for bone marrow to produce red blood cells. After red blood cells are produced, they can carry hemoglobin that delivers oxygen to other body part. However, if our body can not get enough red blood cells, there will not be enough oxygen supplements to meet body’s need.

Moreover, the patients with kidney disease often have bleeding in digestive tract and so on, which can cause red blood cells loss. Also some patients often have vomit, nausea, poor appetite so the patients can not get enough raw materials of blood such as iron, vitamin. It is also an important factor in causing anemia.
Therefore, usually the patients with kidney disease have more than one reason for anemia.

The patients do not have obvious symptoms if anemia is mild or develops very slowly. With the anemia development, some symptoms will appear such as fatigue, trouble breathing, weakness, dizziness, pale skin, and headache and so on. If you have the above symptoms, you may be affected by anemia.


Some studies show that if the patients with kidney disease are accompanied with anemia, they have an increased risk of heart problems. If patients can receive effective treatment of anemia, it can decline the risk of heart disease to some extent.