Cognitive dysfunction in β‐thalassemia minor

Abstract

Turkey b-thalassemia minor is a common, hereditary, and mostly symptomless disease. Previous studies have shown that lower hemoglobin values are associated with poorer cognitive functions. We aimed to evaluate the cognitive function in patients with b-thalassemia minor. Thirty-two male subjects with b-thalassemia minor and 32 sex-, age-, and education statusmatched healthy subjects were enrolled in the study. Blood tests and P300 potentials were carried out. P300 potential latency in all patients was significantly longer than those in the control group (337.63 ± 34.89 msec and 310.66 ± 14.30 msec, respectively; t 4.046, P < 0.001). The amplitudes of P300 in patient group were significantly lower than those in the control group (5.19 ± 3.59 lV and 9.81 ± 3.33 lV, respectively; t 5.349, P < 0.001). In this study, we have found that P300 potentials are adversely affected for cognitive functions in patients with b-thalassemia minor. Am. J. Hematol. 82:203-207, 2007. V V C 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Brain functional impairment in beta‐thalassaemia: the cognitive profile in Italian neurologically asymptomatic adult patients in comparison to the reported literature

“…The extensive review of the literature retrieved 15 studies regarding neurocognitive assessment in beta‐thalassaemia (Table ). An additional study investigated cognitive function in thalassaemia trait (Nevruz et al , ) and was not included (the neurocognitive evaluation was performed on a small sample (32 males, median‐age 21 years, range 16–30) and was limited to the Mini‐Mental Status Examination, which was normal in all cases). Among the considered studies, 13/15 investigated paediatric patients, including some with a mixed population that presented exclusively the data of paediatric patients (Economou et al , ;; Teli et al , ), or presented aggregate data though most referred to paediatric patients [Logothetis et al () investigated 109/125 patients < 15 years of age and 16/125 patients >15 years of age; Orsini et al () investigated 11 paediatric patients and one adult aged 18 years; the age range of patients reported by Karimi et al () was up to 18 years, and that of Aydin et al () was up to 19·6 years].…”

Executive function and neural activation in adults with β‐thalassemia major: an event‐related potentials study

“…[4][5][6] While the physiological complications related to chronic hypoxia, iron overload, and iron chelation are well established, 7,8 less is known about the implications of the disease and its treatment on neuropsychological and cognitive function. Associations have been reported between cognitive dysfunction and other diseases characterized by a chronic hypoxic state, such as sickle-cell anemia and ␤-thalassemia minor, [9][10][11][12][13] but data pertaining to ␤-TM are limited. A few studies have evaluated neurocognitive function in ␤-TM patients as compared with healthy controls, but these have yielded controversial results.…”

Thalassemia and risk of dementia: A nationwide population-based retrospective cohort study

“…However, these studies have focused on acquired anemia, whereas few studies have focused on hereditary anemia. Previous studies with small sample sizes have demonstrated a trend of developing cognitive dysfunction in severe types of thalassemia and the hemoglobin mutations associated with β thalassemia minor [11][12][13]. However, studies elucidating the relationship between thalassemia and long-term dementia incidence are rare.…”