Iron Status in Newly Diagnosed β-Thalassemia Major: High Rate of Iron Status due to Erythropoiesis Drive

Table 1

Characteristics and clinical parameters of subjects with newly diagnosed severe β-thalassemia and controls.

	Case group (); β-Thalassemia major	Control group ()
Sex			0.322
Male	24	24
Female	17	26
Age (months old)			0.658
0–12	33	37
12–24	8	13
Median	7.0	8.5
Range	2–24	2–28
Nutritional status			0.112
Normal	30	35
Mild malnutrition	10	15
Moderate malnutrition	1	0
Hemoglobin (g/dL)			<0.001
Median	5.0	11.7
Range	1.6–7.8	10.6–13.5
Serum ferritin (ng/mL)			<0.001
Median	315.0	29.0
Range	83.6–1071.0	12.0–186
Transferrin saturation (%)			<0.001
Median	70.6	16.5
Range	28.5–98.7	8.8– 43.0
Hepcidin serum (ng/mL)			<0.001
Median	251.0	123.1
Range	114.5–363.5	5.6–349.5
GDF15 serum (pg/mL)			<0.001
Median	2,095.3	342.4
Range	149.3–9,586.3	350.08–436.99

GDF15 = growth differentiation factor 15.