Table 1.

Demographic, Disease and Dietary Characteristics of Subjects with Thalassemia compared to Healthy Controls

	Thalassemia (n=25)	Control (n=34)	p-value
Age, years	17.3 ± 5.3	17.5 ± 6.2	NS
Gender	44% Male	44% Male	NS
	56% Female	56% Female
Diagnosis, ß – Thalassemia	18, 72%
E, ß Thalassemia	2, 8%	N/A
Hb H / Constant Spring	3, 12%
Thalassemia Intermedia	2, 8%
Number Transfused	19 of 25	0
Ethnicity, Asian	16, 64%	9, 26%	0.009
Caucasian	8, 32%	17, 50%
Other	1, 4%	8, 24%
Subjects > 18 yrs	44%	44%	NS
Average Tanner, Category*	Prepubertal, 24%	Prepubertal, 21%	NS
	Peri-pubertal, 24%	Peri-pubertal, 9%
	Post-pubertal, 52%	Post-pubertal, 70%
Age of Menarche, years	14.6 ± 2.0 (n=6)	12.7 ± 1.3 (n=14)	0.01
Primary amenorrhea	1 of 6	0 of 12	NS
Serum ferritin, ng/mL	1931 ± 1785	ND
Calcium supplements	60%	21%	0.003
Vitamin D supplements	60%	24%	0.006
25-OH vitamin D, ng/mL	24.8± 11.1	32.0 ± 8.7	0.007

Data are presented as mean ± SD, % or (Number of subjects)

^*Average Tanner Category: Mean Tanner Stage of Gonad + Hair for each individual patient, categorized as prepubertal: Tanner 1; peri-pubertal: 2,3; or post-pubertal: 4,5 Primary Amenorrhea: females >16 years with no spontaneous menstruation Serum Ferritin normal range= 30-300 ng/mL

Calcium and vitamin D are the percentage of subjects that were taking supplements at the time of the study