Ratio of hemoglobin to mean corpuscular volume: A new index for discriminating between iron deficiency anemia and thalassemia trait

Table 2 Diagnostic performance of the hemoglobin/mean corpuscular volume index in differentiating between iron deficiency anemia and thalassemia trait against gold standard diagnostic methods¹

Diagnostic parameters	TT, % (95%CI)	IDA, % (95%CI)
Sensitivity	93.5 (77.2-98.9)	78.4 (66.2-87.3)
Specificity	78.4 (66.2-87.3)	93.5 (77.2-98.9)
Accuracy	83.3 (74.5-89.6)
Youden's index	0.72
AUC	0.97 (0.93-1.00)
Kappa coefficient	0.65 (0.51-0.80)

¹α-TT was confirmed by the presence of mutations. β-TT carriers were confirmed by hemoglobin electrophoresis at pH 8.6 and HbA2 levels > 3.5%. And ferritin measurement was confirmed for iron deficiency anemia.

IDA: Iron deficiency anemia; TT: Thalassemia trait; 95%CI: 95% confidence interval; AUC: Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve.