title: Proposal of a score combining red blood cell indices for early differentiation of beta-thalassemia minor from iron deficiency anemia.
abstract: This study evaluates the diagnostic reliability of 11 red blood cells indices, together with our new index, referred to as '11T', in differentiation of beta-thalassemia minor (BTm) from iron deficiency anemia (IDA). A total of 129 patients with microcytic anemia were involved in a retrospective study, 80 with IDA and 49 with BTm. Using an automatic program, we calculated 11 discrimination indices and a new score, 11T, based on the results of these 11 tests. To confirm the interest of 11T, we performed a prospective study with 53 patients. 11T was most effective in differentiating BTm from IDA: 11T had the highest Youden's index (83%) and the best percentage of correctly identified patients (93%) and gave optimal performance in our prospective study. We proposed a score, 11T, which is able to discriminate between IDA and BTm with high specificity and high sensitivity in order to conduct the appropriate confirmatory examination.
authors.affiliation: Hématologie Biologique/Immunologie, CHU, Hôtel Dieu, Boulevard Léon Malfreyt, Clermont Ferrand, France. ajanel@chu-clermontferrand.fr
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Janel
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Roszyk
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rapatel
authors.forename: Gabrielle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mareynat
authors.forename: Marc G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: Anne-Françoise
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Serre-Sapin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004909:Erythrocyte Indices; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055815:Young Adult; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*