Major Beta-thalassemia: Protective or predisposing Factor for Cardiovascular Diseases

Abstract

Introduction: Cardiac dysfunctions have been well known in patients with Major thalassemia. Some studies have focused on differences in blood pressure and heart rate between these patients and normal population, while this view has not been proven in other studies. Given the importance of hemodynamic factors in the health of these individuals, we intend to test the hypothesis as to whether or not hemodynamic factors of these patients differ from normal subjects.
Methods: Patients were selected from among the thalassemic patients referred to a blood clinic of one of the third-level hospitals in Tehran. Finally, 50 patients and 50 normal subjects were studied in two groups. All subjects have been assessed using Holter monitoring. Mean average systolic blood pressure and heart rate of subjects were recorded for a period of 24 hours. In addition, demographic data on the subjects, and some laboratory tests (such as serum lipid profile and glucose levels of the patients) were also determined and compared between the two groups.
Results: 100 people were evaluated in two groups, including 50 patients with thalassemia major and 50 normal subjects, matched by age and gender. The mean age of the subjects was 16.3 ± 6.7 years; and there is no significant difference in mean age of both groups.23 female patients (46%) were in the case group, and 21 female patients (42%) were in the healthy group, the ratio for which there is no statistically significant difference between the two groups (P> 0. 05). The average level of serum glucose, lipid profiles, as well as none of the hemodynamic factors had no statistically significant difference in the two groups.Only the mean systolic blood pressure was significantly lower in male patients than among men without the disease.
Discussion: Despite the lack of difference in blood pressure between the case group and others, it seems that gender could plays a protective role against cardiovascular diseases in men with thalassemia major.