Table 1. Baseline data of treatment and control groups .

Variable	Treatment group	Control group	P value
Age (years)	51.16 ± 12.84	52.85 ± 12.33	0.67
Sex			0.91
Male	11	11
Female	10	11
Duration of ESRD (years)	2.92 ± 1.91	4.08 ± 2.02	0.076
Serum ferritin (µg/dL)	432.37 ± 108.13	331.50 ± 167.6	0.98
iPTH (ρg/dL)	187.37 ± 96.93	164.5 ± 84.64	0.58
Hb (g/dL)	9.33 ± 1.25	9.73 ± 1.10	0.28
Hct (%)	28.08 ± 3.88	29.45 ± 3.76	0.27
Albumin (g/dL)	4.12 ± 0.37	3.79 ± 0.51	0.69
Quantitative CRP (mg/dL)	16.2 ± 12.86	9.54 ± 7.08	0.051
Kt/V	1.76 ± 0.18	1.53 ± 0.20	0.17

Abbreviations: ESRD, end-stage renal disease; CRP, C-reactive protein; Hb, hemoglobin; Hct, hematocrit; iPTH, intact parathyroid hormone.