Table III.

Transfusion and iron overload: transfusion, chelation, and iron assessment.

Transfusion, chelation and iron assessment	Age 18·39		Age ≥40		Chi-square P values
	No.	%	No.	%
Transfusion status					0·947
Chronically transfused	163	81	64	85
Intermittently transfused	3	1·5	1	1·3
Non-transfused	26	13	9	12
Ever received regular chelation therapy					0·06
No	23	11	3	4
Yes	178	89	72	96
Currently received regular chelation therapy					0·04
No	43	21	8	11
Yes	158	79	67	89
Chelation therapy currently					0·02
Combination	52	26	10	13
Deferasirox	85	42	41	55
Deferiprone	4	2	4	5·3
Deferoxamine	17	8·5	12	16
None	43	21	8	11
Ever had a liver iron measurement					0·16
No	14	7	2	2·7
Unknown	8	4	1	1·3
Yes	179	89	72	96
Most recent method of liver iron measurement*					0·58
Biopsy	3	1·5	0	0
MRI	126	63	46	61
SQUID†	17	8·5	6	8
Total	201	100	75	100

MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; SQUID, Superconducting Quantum Interfering Device.

^*Liver iron content (mg iron per gram liver dry weight) measured by MRI (n = 126) and by liver biopsy (n = 3; one liver biopsy result not available for analysis) in n = 128 younger adults and by MRI in n = 46 older adults.

^†Liver iron content wet weight measured by SQUID in n = 7 younger adults and n = 6 older adults.