Study of Complication in Patients with Beta Thalassemia

Background Even the life span has prolonged for the last 40 years, increase in frequently seen complications with increasing age negatively affect the life quality of thalassemia patients. Methods In our study, complications encountered in 84 -thalassemia patients who were followedup between January 2014 to May 2016 were retrospectively analyzed.67 patients were followed upwith diagnosis of thalassemia major and 17 with thalassemia intermedia. Results Totally, 56.7 % of patients were male and 43.3 % were female. Ages varied between 3-17 years with the mean age of 10.34.8 years. Mean ferritin level was 22121370 ng/mL (41-6263 ng/mL) for 4.5 years. Complications were increased with increasing age. Complication rates were significantly higher among thalassemia major patients compared to thalassemia intermedia patients. There was no statistically significant relationship between complications and mean ferritin levels. The most common complications were endocrine complications (57.7 %). Cardiac complications developed in 43.8 % of the patients, gastroenterological complications in 19.4 %, allergic complications in 10.5 % and infectious complications in 1.5 %. Conclusion Organ damage caused by iron overload in the heart and endocrine organs and severely impairs quality of life. Non-invasive imaging techniques have gained importance as serum ferritin levels alone are not sufficient for monitoring body iron load, keeping iron levels in safe, optimum levels, and preventing complications.