Factors Affecting Quality of Life in Adult Patients with Thalassaemia Major and Intermedia.

Dear Editor, Thalassaemia is one of the most common genetic disorders in Southeast Asian countries. It is a major health problem in Malaysia with a recent reported carrier rate of about 6.8%.1 Patients with β-thalassaemia major (TM) require lifelong transfusion while patients with thalassaemia intermedia (TI) generally do not need regular blood transfusions but may still require medical attention at the later part of life due to complications of iron overload. Although overall survival of TM patients has improved over the years due to global health efforts and the advances in medical management, quality of life (QOL) of these patients is reported to be poorer compared to the normal population.2 It was also reported that up to 50% of thalassaemia patients have some forms of psychological disorders, e.g. anxiety and depression which correlate negatively with QOL.3 There have not been any studies which looked at the adult patients with thalassaemia in the Southeast Asian region. In this study, we hope to investigate the QOL of adult patients who have TM and TI and evaluate the clinical and psychological factors which may affect QOL.