EPO and anemia (phenotype): Existing anaemia is aggravated by underlyinginflammation, which leads to alterations in iron homeostasis, impaired erythrocyteproliferation, blunted erythropoietin response, and decreased erythrocyte half-life.Moreover, several pro-inflammatory cytokines have been implicated in chronicinflammation anaemia, including interleukin- (IL-) 1b, tumour necrosis factor-a(TNF-a), and IL-6.