Table 3.

Comparison of hepcidin and hepcidin-ferritin ratio among iron-replete individuals with and without heterozygous β-gene mutations

	Normal population (N = 176)	β-thalassemia trait (N = 82)	HbE trait (N = 19)	P for difference between normal and β thalassemia trait	P for difference between normal and HbE trait
Hemoglobin*	15.2 (13.0-19.7)	12.0 (9.6-17.6)	13.3 (11.4-17.2)	<.001	<.001
Ferritin†	39.7 (15.5-240.7)	39.5 (15.4-205.5)	40.9 (17.9-94.4)	.960	.806
sTfR†	25.7 (10.4-93.2)	35.8 (18.3-95.2)	20.0 (11.0-32.7)	<.001	.003
Serum iron*	17.3 (2.8-33.7)	15.7 (2.7-30.5)	14.7 (5.7-26.1)	.036	.071
Hepcidin†	5.1 (1.2-44.6)	4.1 (1.1-25.4)	5.24 (4.0-6.8)	.007	.837
Hepcidin-ferritin ratio†	0.13 (0.02-0.82)	0.10 (0.02-0.44)	0.13 (0.05-0.69)	.011	.997

^*Arithmetic means (range); P values calculated from Student t test between arithmetic means of normal and individuals with heterozygote β-gene mutations of interest.

^†Geometric means (range); P values calculated from Student t test between log-transformed means of normal and individuals with heterozygote β-gene mutations of interest.