Assessment of Serum Zinc Level in Children with Thalassemia Major Receiving Oral Chelation and Their Sibling in AL-Najaf City

Background Thalassemia is commonest hereditary anemia, Iraq is among countries with highest prevalence of major thalassemia, thalassemia patients have poor growth and delayed maturation mainly due to iron overload but zinc deficiency also has been suggested as a contributing factor. Aim of the study To determine serum zinc level of patients with thalassemia and their healthy sibling and to determine whether the possible deficiency is influencing by the disease itself or by other factors. Patients and Methods A case-control study was carried out from February 2016 to august 2016 in Al-Zahraa teaching hospital for maternity and children in Al-Najaf province. the study included 80 patients with thalassemia their ages range from 5-15 years. Control group was 50 of apparently healthy children without acute or chronic diseases, their ages range from 5-15 years, control group selected and matched with disease group regarding sex& age. For each patient& control group 3ml of blood was taken at morning, serum zinc measured by spectrophotometer and the data analysis don by SPSS version 22, 2014. Results mean serum zinc levels were 56.216.1, 59.517.7& 6014.6 g/dL in Transfusion dependent, non-dependent and normal control respectively with no statistical differences, also the study show no significant relationship between serum zinc level and different variables such as gender, age, ferritin level& duration of oral chelation therapy (pgreater than0.05) while there is significant relationship between serum zinc level and body mass index (p