Abstract
Background and Aims
Most of non-dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease (NDD-CKD) patients will suffer from iron-deficiency anaemia (IDA) also mineral and bone disorders (CKD-MBD) as consequences of CKD progression. Ferric citrate (FC) is an iron-based phosphate binder that based on previous studies showed efficacies in improving IDA and CKD-MBD parameters although the results were still inconclusive. This study aims to establish the overall efficacies of FC in improving IDA and CKD-MBD parameters in NDD-CKD patients.
Method
We did comprehensive searching using predefined keywords in online databases of Pubmed, EMBASE, ScienceDirect, and The Cochrane Library, to include all relevant studies from 2000-2020. We included all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) accessing the efficacies of FC in improving IDA and CKD-MBD parameters compared with standard care (SC) in NDD-CKD patients. The CKD-MBD parameters analysed in this study are changes in serum phosphorus (P), serum calcium ions (Ca), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), intact fibroblast growth factors-23 (iFGF-23), C-terminal fibroblast growth factors-23 (cFGF-23), and intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), while the IDA parameters analysed are changes of haemoglobin (Hb), serum iron (Fe), transferrin saturation (TSAT), and ferritin. Bias risk was accessed by using the revised Cochrane Risk-of-bias (RoB-2) tool. Analysis was performed to provide standard mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI) using random-effect heterogeneity test.
Results
We included six RCTs with total of 1,082 participants met our inclusion criteria. The FC significantly improve CKD-MBD parameters of P (SMD = -0.84. 95% CI = -1.21 to -0.07, p<0.00001, I2 = 74%), iFGF-23 (SMD = -0.43. 95% CI = -0.73 to -0.13, p = 0.005, I2 = 73%), cFGF-23 (SMD = -0.74. 95% CI = -1.12 to -0.35, p = 0.0002, I2 = 78%), and iPTH (SMD = -0.23. 95% CI = -0.40 to -0.06, p = 0.008, I2 = 0%), while the improvement of Ca (SMD = 0.16. 95% CI = -0.07 to 0.38, p = 0.17, I2 = 0%) and ALP (SMD = 0.03. 95% CI = -0.22 to 0.28, p = 0.81, I2 = 14%) are not statistically significant compared with the SC group. The FC also significantly improve IDA parameters of Hb (SMD = 1.10. 95% CI = 0.06 to 2.14, p = 0.04, I2 = 97%), TSAT (SMD = 1.18. 95% CI = 0.67 to 1.69, p<0.00001, I2 = 72%), and ferritin (SMD = 1.10. 95% CI = 0.34 to 1.86, p = 0.004, I2 = 87%) compared with the SC group, unless the improvement of Fe is not statistically significant (SMD = 1.34. 95% CI = -0.28 to 2.95, p = 0.11, I2 = 97%).
Conclusion
The ferric citrate shows potential benefits for improving iron-deficiency anaemia and CKD-MBD parameters in NDD-CKD patients. Nevertheless, further trials are needed to establish the efficacies.