Pain at the injection site of subcutaneously administered erythropoietin in maintenance hemodialysis patients: a comparison of two brands of erythropoietin.
Local pain due to subcutaneous erythropoietin (EPO) injection into the thigh was studied using a verbal score ranging from 0 to 4. Equivoluminous doses of epoetin-alpha (Cilag) and epoetin-beta (Boehringer) were compared in 2 controlled single-blind experiments: 10 dialysis patients were treated at random for 4 weeks at consecutive sessions with both brands of EPO, and 40 patients were treated in 1 session only with the 2 brands simultaneously. Pain scores were 1.12 +/- 0.28 versus 0.15 +/- 0.06 (p less than 0.05) and 1.75 +/- 0.19 versus 0.08 +/- 0.04 for epoetin-alpha and epoetin-beta, respectively (p less than 0.001). Treatment acceptance was 48% for epoetin-alpha versus 83% for epoetin-beta (p less than 0.05).
Veys
N
N
Department of Nephrology, University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.
Vanholder
R
R
Lameire
N
N
D000368:Aged; D000740:Anemia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D004921:Erythropoietin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007279:Injections, Subcutaneous / Q000009:adverse effects; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D013848:Thigh
D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D004921:Erythropoietin