Table 1. The Characteristics of the Patients .

Variable	Total		BTIC		BMT		P
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Gender
Male	114	58.16	90	59.21	24	54.54	.581
Female	82	41.84	62	40.79	20	45.46
Age group
<18	73	37.24	55	36.18	18	40.90	.748
18-25	67	34.18	54	35.52	13	29.54
≥25	56	28.58	43	28.30	13	29.56
Education (y)
≤12	163	83.16	127	83.55	36	81.81	.787
>12	33	16.84	25	16.45	8	18.19
Income
Low	77	39.28	71	46.71	6	13.63	<.001
Middle	55	28.06	42	27.63	13	29.54
High	64	32.66	39	25.66	25	56.83
Living place
Urban	175	89.28	140	92.10	35	79.54	.018
Rural	21	10.72	12	7.90	9	20.46
Supplementary Insurance
Yes	47	23.98	37	24.34	10	22.72	.825
No	149	76.02	115	75.66	34	77.28

Abbreviations: BTIC, blood transfusion plus iron chelation; BMT, bone marrow transplantation.