Hayashi T, et al. - Among 108 patients who had been started on maintenance hemodialysis, researchers evaluated the link between erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA) responsiveness in the pre-dialysis phase and mortality in this hospital-based, retrospective, cohort study. Participants had no preexisting cardiovascular disease. By means of an erythropoietin resistance index (ERI), they assessed ESA responsiveness just before initiating dialysis. Participants were followed-up for a mean duration of 3.1 ± 1.6 years, during which deaths of 18 (17%) patients were reported. Findings were suggestive of a possible link between hyporesponsiveness to ESA and mortality in incident hemodialysis patients.