Hypothyroidism and Serum Ferritin Level in Patients with Major ß Thalassemia

Abstract Introduction Major ß Thalassemia represents a group of recessively inherited hemoglobin disorder, which is characterized by reduced synthesis of globins chains. Frequent blood transfusions can lead to iron overload, which may result in several endocrine complication especially in the absence of adequate chelating therapy. The objective of this study were to determine the prevalence of hypothyroidism in transfusion dependent thalassemia patients treated in the hematology unit of Shahid Sadoughy hospital and determination of the correlation of hypothyroidism with the Ferritin level. Methods This study was cross-sectional study which was performed during one year. Sixty five patients, ages between 1.2 years to 27years old entered to this study (47.6%female and 52.4%male) For all of the patients T3-T4-T3RUP, TSH and ferritin level were tested. Results The mean age of the patients was 10.3 years (47.6% above 10years and 52.4% under 10years old). This study demonstrated that fourteen patients (21%) had hypothyroidism (1.5%overt low T4 and high TSH), which 7.6% was sub clinical (normal T4and high TSH and 12.3% secondary hypothyroidism) in other study prevalence hypothyroidism was 2.2%-16.5%. There was no correlation between hypothyroidism and serum ferritin level (P-value= 0.38) Conclusion The high rate of hypothyroidism indicates the importance of regular follow up of thalassemia patients to prevent complications.