A stepwise Cox proportional hazards model was fitted for age at h-SDS less than −2. The model included sex as a stratifying variable and the following variables at first step: birth cohorts, age at start of transfusions, age at start of chelation therapy, intensive and/or early chelation with desferrioxamine, use of oral chelators, chronic hepatitis C, primary amenorrhea, hypogonadism, hypoparathyroidism, hypothyroidism, and diabetes.

H.R., hazard ratio; n.s., not significant; ref., reference category.

Short stature was defined as h-SDS less than −2.