BACKGROUND:
Despite prolonged life expectancy in patients with beta-thalassemia due to modern chelation therapy and planned blood transfusions, they still suffer from multisystem complications of this chronic hemolytic anemia, including endocrine system dysfunction. Under-recognized parathyroid hormone (PTH) dysfunction in these patients can manifest as bone pain and fractures.
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of the study was to evaluate PTH in patients with beta-thalassemia >10 years of age.
METHODS:
A cross-sectional study was performed on 76 randomly selected patients >10 years old with beta-thalassemia (including both thalassemia major and thalassemia intermedia) in the Al-Kut Hereditary Blood Disease Center in Wasit province, Iraq. The study covered the period from November 2021 to April 2022. Data were collected from patients’ files after written consent, including sex, age, ferritin level, mean hemoglobin level, type of chelation therapy, frequency of transfusion, mean calcium level, and whether the patients were splenectomized or not.
RESULTS:
Of the 76 patients enrolled in the study, 39 (51.3%) were males. There were 63 (82.9%) who had thalassemia major. The majority of cases (n = 55, 71%) were from the age group >15 years. Fifteen (19.7%) patients had low PTH levels. The age group >15 years had a higher frequency of having low PTH levels (P = 0.01 and Pearson factor - 0.29). The study found a positive correlation between low calcium and low PTH levels (P = 0.001, Pearson factor = 0.1). High ferritin levels had no significant correlation with PTH levels (P = 0.4).
CONCLUSIONS:
Beta-thalassemia patients can have a low PTH level. It can occur more often in patients >15 years old, which necessitates close monitoring for older thalassemia patients. A declining calcium level in these patients can correlate with a low PTH level.
