Comparative Effects of Three Iron Chelation Therapies on the Quality of Life of Greek Patients with Homozygous Transfusion-Dependent Beta-Thalassemia

Table 2

Disease characteristics.

	DFO	DFX	DFO + DFP	𝑃 value
Age of disease onset, years	2.1±2.4	2.8±4.5	2.3±4.1	NS
Age at start of DFO treatment, years	13.1±11.1	9.0±9.6	11.1±11.6	NS
Frequency of DFO therapy, times per week	5.2±1.0	—	4.4±1.9	<0.0001
Frequency of transfusions per month	2.2±0.6	1.9±0.5	2.1±0.7	NS
Hemoglobin levels prior to transfusion, g/dL	9.5±0.9	10.1±3.4	9.7±0.4	0.0208
Ferritin levels upon enrollment, ng/mL	1559.2±1778.1	1738.0±1636.9	1023.1±944.3	NS

DFO: deferoxamine; DFX: deferasirox; DFP: deferiprone; NS: not significant. 𝑃 values < 0.05 indicate statistical differences between the three groups.
All values are means ± SD.