. 2021 Feb 15;11:3844. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-82297-y

Table 4.

Comparison of hematological parameters between fetuses of 4 different α-thalassemia genotypes.

Items	α-thalassemia silent carrier (one alpha-gene defect)			α-thalassemia trait (two alpha-gene defects)			α-thalassemia intermedia (three alpha-gene defects)			α-thalassemia major (four alpha-gene defects) (69 cases)	P^d value
Items	(-α/αα) (10 cases)	(α^Tα/αα) (5 cases)	P^a value	(--/αα) (28 cases)	(α^Tα/α^Tα) (3 cases)	P^b value	(--/-α) (14 cases)	(--/α^Tα) (7 cases)	P^c value	α-thalassemia major (four alpha-gene defects) (69 cases)	P^d value
Age (years)	28.10 ± 5.11	26.00 ± 4.58	0.453	27.04 ± 5.70	29.00 ± 7.55	0.584	26.93 ± 6.82	26.29 ± 4.42	0.824	27.65 ± 5.37	0.961
Gestational age (weeks)	29.20 ± 2.25	29.80 ± 2.95	0.667	28.11 ± 2.38	28.67 ± 1.53	0.695	29.64 ± 2.82	27.43 ± 4.50	0.181	28.67 ± 2.25	0.484
HbF (%)	91.38 ± 2.59	91.72 ± 4.07	0.846	83.37 ± 5.62	84.37 ± 5.62	0.872	61.84 ± 10.40	61.61 ± 10.39	0.964	–	< 0.001
HbA (%)	8.00 ± 2.40	7.22 ± 3.44	0.614	9.95 ± 3.66	6.57 ± 1.79	0.128	12.34 ± 3.56	10.17 ± 2.98	0.182	–	0.005
Hb Barts (%)	0.62 ± 0.53	1.33 ± 0.78	0.081	4.43 ± 2.31	7.87 ± 5.72	0.044	21.80 ± 2.28	26.97 ± 8.58	0.044	86.70 ± 3.48	< 0.001
RBC (10*¹²/L)	4.27 ± 1.27	3.45 ± 0.26	0.185	3.97 ± 0.64	2.96 ± 1.55	0.032	4.11 ± 0.50	2.71 ± 0.49	< 0.001	3.02 ± 0.57	< 0.001
Hb (g/L)	131.40 ± 11.15	119.80 ± 8.70	0.064	119.82 ± 19.10	87.67 ± 37.69	0.017	99.86 ± 11.00	73.71 ± 14.48	< 0.001	69.96 ± 11.39	< 0.001
HCT (%)	44.44 ± 12.28	37.18 ± 2.80	0.222	39.15 ± 6.38	30.13 ± 10.83	0.037	35.46 ± 3.81	27.11 ± 2.72	< 0.001	29.65 ± 4.85	< 0.001
MCV (fL)	104.72 ± 4.61	107.90 ± 3.66	0.204	98.77 ± 4.95	112.20 ± 31.27	0.027	86.41 ± 3.73	101.93 ± 13.87	0.001	98.69 ± 7.76	< 0.001
MCH (pg)	32.14 ± 5.21	34.80 ± 0.73	0.285	30.25 ± 1.51	31.37 ± 5.31	0.369	24.30 ± 0.88	27.49 ± 4.24	0.012	23.21 ± 1.74	< 0.001
MCHC (g/L)	283.98 ± 77.43	322.40 ± 4.51	0.152	306.46 ± 10.20	284.67 ± 27.65	0.006	281.93 ± 0.90	270.00 ± 26.71	0.158	235.37 ± 11.53	< 0.001
RDW (%)	15.27 ± 1.29	16.08 ± 1.11	0.253	16.32 ± 1.65	21.83 ± 8.81	0.003	18.97 ± 2.11	21.37 ± 5.48	0.159	26.76 ± 5.25	< 0.001
NRBCs (%)	13.10 (9.90–17.90)	18.40 (7.40–21.0)	0.303	11.0 (5.03–23.30)	212.80 (3.3–6312.3)	0.001	16.45 (12.58–25.75)	661.50 (309.60–2548.25)	0.025	1540.7 (1055.75–2049.00	< 0.001

P^a, P^b, P^c were the P values of comparison between (-α/αα) and (α^Tα/αα) group, (--/αα) and (α^Tα/α^Tα) group, (--/-α) and (--/α^Tα) group using Student's t test for all the hematological parameters except for the NRBCs using Mann–Whitney test, respectively. P^d were the P values of comparision among all the α subgroups using Student's t test for all the hematological parameters except for the NRBCs using Mann–Whitney test. Significant differences (P < 0.05) are indicated in bold.