Appropriateness of the study of iron deficiency anemia prior to referral for small bowel evaluation at a tertiary center

Table 3 Univariate analysis of factors associated with the appropriateness of pre-referral evaluation n (%)

Characteristics	Appropriate	Incomplete	P value1
	(n = 17, 22.1%)	(n = 60, 77.9%)
Age, years (mean ± SD)	48.7 ± 17.7	72.3 ± 12.3	< 0.001
Female,	13 (76.5)	32 (53.3)	0.087
General Practice referral	7 (41.2)	34 (56.7)	0.258
Hemoglobin, g/dL (mean ± SD)	9.0 ± 2.4	8.7 ± 1.8	0.645
Microcytosis	13 (76.5)	42 (70.0)	0.750
Hypochromia	13 (76.5)	43 (71.7)	0.640
Female, < 40 yr	6 (100)	0 (0.0)	< 0.001

¹Student’s t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, Fisher’s exact test or the χ² test, as appropriate; P value of 0.05 indicating statistical significance.