Full blood picture of a patient with thalassaemia and a patient with iron deficiency anaemia
| Thalassaemia | Iron deficiency anaemia | |||
| Haemoglobin | 101 g/L | Low | 91 g/L | Low |
| Haematocrit | 0.31 | Low | 0.3 | Low |
| Platelet count | 233×109/L | Normal | 453×109/L | High |
| Red blood cells | 5.2×1012/L | Normal | 4.67×1012/L | Normal |
| Mean corpuscular volume | 58 fL | Low | 64.2 fl | Low |
| Mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration | 327 g/L | Normal | 303 g/L | Low |
| Mean corpuscular haemoglobin | 19 pg | Low | 19.5 pg | Low |
| Red cell distribution width-coefficient of variation | 15.4% | Normal | 17.5% | High |