Elevated plasma asymmetric dimethylarginine levels in children with beta-thalassemia major may be an early marker for endothelial dysfunction

Figures & data

Table 1. Comparison of demographic, laboratory and metabolic features of patients with beta-thalassemia major and control group.

Variables	Study group (n = 31)	Control group (n = 36)	p-value
Female/male	13/19	16/20	0.809
Age (years)	12 (4–16)	11 (4–16)	0.491
BMI (kg/m^2)	16.7 (15.4–19)	16.8 (16.3–19.8)	0.148
WBC (10^3/mm^3)	8.1 (6.8–9.8)	7.6 (5.9–8.8)	0.220
Hemoglobin (g/dl)	10.3 ± 0.6	13.3 ± 0.8	<0.001
Platelet count (10^3/mm^3)	342 ± 128	313 ± 84	0.269
Ferritin (ng/ml)	2235 (390–5119)	32 (18–90)	<0.001
ADMA (µmol/l)	0.90 (0.7–1.09)	0.49 (0.46–0.56)	<0.001
VCAM-1 (ng/ml)	1828 (1478.74–2423.25)	1207.54 (1078.65–1386.73)	<0.001
ICAM-1 (ng/ml)	419.29 ± 133.41	345.08 ± 53.54	0.004
P-selectin (ng/ml)	192.51 ± 52.97	173.42 ± 41.57	0.115
Pentraxin-3 (ng/ml)	2.90 (1.45–3.48)	1.90 (1.43–2.96)	0.347

BMI: body mass index; WBC: white blood cell; ADMA: asymmetric dimethylarginine; VCAM-1: vascular cell adhesion molecule-1; ICAM-1: intercellular adhesion molecule-1.

Bold values denote significance at p < 0.05.

Table 2. ADMA in correlation with clinical characteristics and laboratory parameters.

Variable	Spearman’s correlation coefficient	p-value
Age (years)	−0.029	0.816
BMI (kg/m^2)	−0.265	0.031
WBC (10^3/mm^3)	−0.045	0.722
Hemoglobin (g/dl)	−0.735	<0.001
Platelet count (10^3/mm^3)	−0.119	0.341
Ferritin (ng/ml)	0.585	<0.001
VCAM-1 (ng/ml)	0.544	<0.001
ICAM-1 (ng/ml)	0.405	0.001
P-selectin (ng/ml)	−0.034	0.792
Pentraxin-3 (ng/ml)	0.155	0.214

ADMA: asymmetric dimethylarginine; BMI: body mass index; WBC: white blood cell; VCAM-1: vascular cell adhesion molecule-1; ICAM-1: intercellular adhesion molecule-1.

Bold values denote significance at p < 0.05.