RESULTS
Subject Characteristics
A total of 302 subjects with thalassemia from sites that submitted
food frequency questionnaire surveys were originally
recruited and consented to participate in the larger trial, of
which 221 completed the baseline nutritional assessments
(73.2%). There were no significant differences between those
who completed or did not complete the food frequency questionnaire
in terms of sex, ethnicity, or transfusion status.
However, in the adult cohort, subjects who completed the
food frequency questionnaire were younger compared with
the noncompleters (29.4 vs 33.8 years; P0.02); and in the
child cohort, the subjects who completed the questionnaire
were 2 years older (5.9 vs 3.7 years; P0.001) compared with
those who did not. Of the 221 subjects included in this study,
60 were from Canada (14 younger children, 32 older children/
adolescents, and 14 adults).