Prevalence of HFE mutations and relation to serum iron status in patients with chronic hepatitis C and patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in Taiwan

Table 1 Demographic and laboratory data of healthy subjects, CHC and NAFLD (mean±SD)

	Reference range	Healthy subjects	Chronic hepatitis C	P	NAFLD	P
Age (yr)		44.62 ± 11.19	60.83 ± 8.55	< 0.01	49.48 ± 14.58	0.082
Sex (male:female)		44:81	12:17	0.533	16:17	0.162
AST (IU/L)	10 - 34		97.17 ± 52.62		74.68 ± 42.09
ALT (IU/L)	7 - 33		114.28 ± 61.87		108.52 ± 65.07
Iron (µg/dL)	60 - 160		146.39 ± 48.19		108.73 ± 31.06
TIBC (µg/dL)	250 - 410		377.93 ± 41.10		361.57 ± 42.73
Transferrin saturation (%)	20 - 50		39.01 ± 13.20		30.53 ± 9.80
Ferritin (ng/mL)	Male: 18 - 294		225.95 ± 178.24		331.20 ± 283.82
	Female: 6 - 283
Increased serum iron store (%)			10/29 (34.48)		12/33 (36.36)

CHC, chronic hepatitis C; NAFLD, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. P value: comparing data obtained from healthy subjects with chronic hepatitis C or NAFLD. The increased serum iron store was defined by transferrin saturation > 50% and/or ferritin > upper normal limit.