Time to Start Delivering Iron Chelation Therapy in Newly Diagnosed Severe β-Thalassemia

Table 1

The characteristic of subjects at diagnosis and at SF level >1000 ng/mL.

Characteristic	At diagnosis ()	At SF level >1000 ng/mL ()
Iron status
SF (ng/mL); ; median (IQR)	; 319.5 (65.2–768.3)	; 1,175.5 (1,002–1,508)
TS (%); ; median (IQR)	; 70.0 (20.1–98.7)	; 82.6 (30.1–100.0)
Hepcidin level (ng/mL); ; median (IQR)	; 255.0 (114.5–363.5)	; 366.6 (176.1–876.0)
Serum iron (μg/dL); ; median (IQR)	; 173 (45–330)	; 189 (71–261)
TIBC (μg/dL); ; median (IQR)	; 265 (132–367)	; 230 (153–345)
Amount of transfusion when SF level >1000 ng/mL; ; median (IQR)	; 8 (4–12)
Type of thalassemia; (%)
β-Thalassemia mayor	38 (90)
Severe HbE/β-thalassemia	4 (10)
Age (month); ; median (IQR)	; 7.5(2–24)
Gender; (%)
Male	22 (52)
Female	20 (48)
Hb (g/dL); ; median (IQR)	; 5.2 (1.6–7.8)
Dietary status; (%)
Exclusive breastfeeding
Yes	42 (100%)
No	0 (0%)
Continued breastfeeding until 2 years old
Yes	30 (71.4%)
No	12 (38.6%)
Complementary foods
Yes	42 (100%)
No	0 (0%)