Table III.
Association between hypothyroidism and each of the demographic, transfusion, chelation characteristics, compliance and serum ferritin level.
| Hypothyroidism (n=100) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics | Patients, n | Negative (n=92), no. (%) | Positive (n=8), no. (%) | χ2 test | P-value |
| Age, years | 13.83 | 0.001b | |||
| ≤14 | 66 | 66 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | ||
| >14 | 34 | 26 (76.5) | 8 (23.5) | ||
| Gender | 0.02 | 0.89 | |||
| Male | 54 | 50 (92.6) | 4 (7.4) | ||
| Female | 46 | 42 (91.3) | 4 (8.7) | ||
| Age of start transfusion, months | 4.05 | 0.04a | |||
| ≤9 | 68 | 60 (88.2) | 8 (11.8) | ||
| >9 | 32 | 32 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | ||
| Frequency of transfusion, weeks | 9.14 | 0.002a | |||
| Every 2–3 | 43 | 35 (81.4) | 8 (18.6) | ||
| Every 4–5 | 57 | 57 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | ||
| Age of start chelation, years | 1.90 | 0.16 | |||
| ≤3 | 73 | 65 (89.0) | 8 (11.0) | ||
| >3 | 27 | 27 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | ||
| Type of chelators | 5.29 | 0.15 | |||
| DFX | 19 | 19 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | ||
| DFP | 40 | 34 (85.0) | 6 (15.0) | ||
| DFO | 31 | 29 (93.5) | 2 (6.5) | ||
| DFO+DFP | 10 | 10 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | ||
| Compliance, % | 3.87 | 0.0049a | |||
| <60 | 69 | 61 (88.4) | 8 (11.6) | ||
| ≥60 | 31 | 31 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | ||
| Mean serum ferritin level ± SD (range), ng/ml | 3,247.2±1,482 (836–6,820) | 7,376.2±839.2 (5,600–8,500) | 7.70 | <0.001b | |
a
P<0.05
b
P<0.001. DFX, deferasirox; DFP, deferiprone; DFO, desferrioxamine; SD, standard deviation.