Sevelamer versus calcium-based phosphate binders for chronic kidney disease.

Chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder is prevalent. There is controversy regarding whether calcium-based phosphate binders or sevelamer - a non-calcium phosphate binder – constitute a better therapeutic alternative. Searching in Epistemonikos database, which is maintained by screening multiple information sources, we identified 12 systematic reviews comprising 61 studies of which 41 correspond to randomized trials addressing the question of this article. We combined the evidence using meta-analysis and generated a summary of findings following the GRADE approach. We concluded sevelamer may decrease hypercalcemia, but with a higher incidence of gastrointestinal effects than calcium based phosphate binders. It is unclear if there are differences in mortality because the certainty of the evidence is very low.