Quality of life of Egyptian β-thalassemia major children and adolescents

Introduction b-Thalassemia major (B-TM) is a serious health problem in which children are in need of regular blood transfusions from a very young age to survive. They also need to receive iron chelation therapy to remove excess iron from their bodies, which imposes serious risk on their health and quality of life (QOL). Hence, this study was designed to assess the QOL of Egyptian B-TM children and adolescents in comparison with their healthy peers. Materials and methods A total of 127 B-TM patients and 65 healthy volunteers were enrolled and interviewed at the Ain Shams University Thalassemia Center. QOL assessment was made using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) 4.0 Generic Core Scale. Results The controls had higher QOL scores in all domains at the start of the study (P 0.0001). Compliant patients had higher total QOL scores (P = 0.004). High pretransfusion hemoglobin levels and low serum ferritin levels were independent predictors of better QOL scores. Conclusion B-TM patients had a poor QOL; high hemoglobin level and low iron overload were associated with improved QOL scores.