Increased Duodenal Iron Absorption through Upregulation of Ferroportin 1 due to the Decrement in Serum Hepcidin in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C

Table 1

Baseline characteristics of study participants.

Characteristic	Control group	CHC group	P values
Number of patients	9	24
Gender, M/F	4/5	11/13	0.9431
Age, y	61 (46-74)	59 (22-73)	0.5709
Body mass index, kg/m2	21.6 (19.0-25.5)	23.3 (16.3-32.5)	0.0688
AST, IU/L	18 (13-32)	56 (28-303)	0.0002
ALT, IU/L	20 (17-30)	71 (35-501)	0.0108
GGT, IU/L	32 (11-64)	52 (10-260)	0.0881
Hb, g/dL	14.8 (11.4-16.2)	13.4 (11.6-16.3)	0.6900
Platelet count, x104/μL	221 (182-265)	176 (57-308)	0.0596
Serum Fe, μg/dL	68 (55-99)	106 (44-234)	0.0038
Serum ferritin, μg/dL	75.0 (25.0-115.0)	184 (12.4-1550)	0.0084
Tf saturation, %	23.8 (19.0-31.8)	41.0 (20.8-63.9)	0.0103
Total cholesterol, mg/dL	201 (140-258)	180 (90-257)	0.1455
Triglyceride, mg/dL	120 (77-235)	118 (64-359)	0.7772