Peng 2013.

Methods	Randomised controlled study.
Participants	26 individuals were recruited, who were diagnosed as β‐severe thalassaemia by gene screening, 2 met exclusion criteria 24 participants were randomised Gender: 13 male, 11 female Age (mean (SD) (range)): (14 (3) (11 ‐ 26)) years Setting: First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning Country: China Inclusion criteria: Age ≥ 10 years History of 50 unit red blood cell transfusion (1 unit = 200 mL red blood cell) at least Receiving red blood cell transfusion (≥ 10 unit per year) Exclusion criteria: T2* ≥ 6.3 ms at first MRI screening or LIC ≤ 2 mg/g (1 mg/g = 17.9 mmoL/kg) Dysfunction of liver and kidney Contraindication of MR screening or disagreement doing the screening Follow up: 12 months
Interventions	Two groups: DFX (n = 12): 40 mg/kg daily before breakfast DFO (n = 12): 50 mg/kg, diluted by 10% solution, subcutaneous injection 8 ‐ 12 hours continuously per day, at least 5 days every week ‐ Parameters of the body of patient, LIC, serum ferritin, serum creatinine, liver function and toxicity of the drugs are regarded as standards to adjust the dose or discontinue the therapy ‐ Meanwhile, the patients still receive the former transfusion program (red blood cell transfusion ≥ 10 units per year) to maintain the haemoglobin > 90 g/L ‐ 5‐day washout period without chelation therapz before treatment
Outcomes	Serum ferritin Liver R2* Severity of iron deposition in liver
Notes	Study funding sources: National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi, China
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	"[...] 24 iron‐overloaded patients were randomly divided into 2 groups [...]" No details given with regard to sequence generation.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	No details given with regard to concealment of allocation.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	No details given with regard to blinding. Due to different administration routes, blinding is not likely.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	There were no missing outcome data.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	High risk	Side effects were not reported.
Other bias	Low risk	No other bias detected.