en Nephrology Nephrology Original Article Original Article <p align="left" style="direction: ltr"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i><span style="color: blue font-size: 10pt">Background: </span></i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt">Inflammatory process has a substantial contribution in the development of anemia in chronic hemodialysis patients. Low serum albumin in hemodialysis patients is considered a marker of inflammation. The present longitudinal study aimed to determine the relationship between low baseline serum albumin and future development of anemia.</span></font></p><p align="left"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i><span style="color: blue font-size: 10pt">Methods:</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt"> The population of this study consisted of all patients on standard maintenance hemodialysis for at least three months or longer. Patients were classified as high or low serum albumin level (≥ or < 3.9 gr/dl). All patients received the standard treatment of anemia. The main objective of this study was to compare the prevalence of anemia defined as hemoglobin levels < 11 gr/dl between the two study groups at the end of the study period.</span></font></p><p align="left"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i><span style="color: blue font-size: 10pt">Results:</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt"> A total of 82 patients (50% females) with mean±SD<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font size="2"> </font></span>age of 55±16.8 years<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font size="2"> </font></span>and mean dialysis duration of 5.2±4 years<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font size="2"> </font></span>were followed-up for an average period of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font size="2"> </font></span>10±1 (range, 8-11) months, however 48 patients with high serum albumin and 24 patients with<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font size="2"> </font></span>low serum albumin group completed the study. At baseline, the two groups were similar regarding hemoglobin (9.8±1.2 vs 9.16±1.6 gr/dl, P=0.95) levels. At endpoint, prevalence<span style="color: rgb(192, 0, 0)"><font size="2"> </font></span>of anemia in high albumin group was significantly lower than the low albumin group (50% versus 83.3% P=0.005).</span></font></p><p align="left"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i><span style="color: blue font-size: 10pt">Conclusion: </span></i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt">The findings of this study indicate that low serum albumin in hemodialysis patients is a predictor of anemia indicating unresponsiveness to conventional treatment of anemia.</span></font></p><p align="left"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p> Hemodialysis,Anemia,Serum Albumin 161 164 http://caspjim.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-159-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Behzad Heidari bheidari6@gmail.com 10031947532846003568 10031947532846003568 No Babol University of Medical SciencesBabol Hasan Taheri 10031947532846003572 10031947532846003572 No Babol University of Medical SciencesBabol Karimollah Hajian-Tilaki internalmedbabol@gmail.com 10031947532846003569 10031947532846003569 No Babol University of Medical SciencesBabol Mehdi Yolmeh mojy_rad@yahoo.com 10031947532846003570 10031947532846003570 No Babol University of Medical SciencesBabol Roghayeh Akbari Rghayeh.akbari@yahoo.com 10031947532846003571 10031947532846003571 Yes Babol University of Medical SciencesBabol