TABLE 2.

Biochemical Data of the Different Groups

Parameters	Control Mean [95% CI]	ATC Mean [95% CI]	BTC Mean [95% CI]	BTM Mean [95% CI]
sTfR (mg/L)	1.4 [1.3–1.5]	2.1 [1.7–2.5] **	4.5 [3.7–5.5]***	12.8 [10.3–15.9]***
EPO (mU/mL)	3.5 [2.5–4.8]	4.4 [3.6–5.3]	8.1 [6.1–10.9]***	74.7 [59.7–93.4]***
GDF15 (pg/mL)	358 [296–434]	414 [261–655]	543 [376–785]	10,250 [8,316–12,619]***
Serum Iron (µg/dL)	96.0 [83.2–110.8]	110 [91.6–133]	98.2 [84.9–114]	224 [203–246]***
TIBC (µg/dL)	278 [249–310]	256 [227–289]	267 [252–284]	328 [285–377]
%Tsat	34.6 [30.8–38.9]	43.1 [35.0–53.1]	36.7 [31.1–43.3]	68.2 [62.1–74.8]***
Ferritin (ng/mL)	110 [86.6–139]	82.5 [45.3–150]	156 [88.6–274]	2,230 [1,649–3,020]***
Hepcidin (ng/mL)	63.2 [52.8–75.8]	38.3 [24.0–61.0] *	81.3 [62.5–106]	51.7 [38.3–69.9]
sTfR/log Ferritin	0.68 [0.61–0.76]	1.13 [0.88–1.45] **	2.12 [1.66–2.72]***	3.83 [3.03–4.84]***
(Hepcidin/Ferritin)/ sTfR	0.41 [0.35–0.49]	0.22 [0.13–0.36] *	0.12 [0.08–0.18] ***	0.002 [0.001–0.003]***

Control group (n=28); ATC indicates α-thalassemia carriers (n=14); BTC indicates β-thalassemia carriers (n=20); BTM, β-thalassemia major (n=27); TIBC, total iron-binding capacity; Tsat, transferrin saturation; sTfR, soluble transferrin receptor; GDF15, growth differentiation factor 15 and EPO, erythropoietin. The statistical analyses were performed using oneway ANOVA and Dunnett's Multiple Comparison post test,

^*p<0.05,

^**p<0.01,

^***p<0.001, relative to controls.