Investigating the Effects of Defroxamine Injection on Physical Growth in Children with Thalassemia Major

Thalassemia major is one of the most common chronic blood disorders that is characterized by reduced or lack of production of one or more globin chains. Treatment with transfusion programs, chelating therapy has considerably prolonged survival in thalassemic patients. Studies have demonstrated that chelation therapy regularly can prevent from disorders in growth of thalassemic children. This study intended to determine the effect of defroxamine injection on physical growth in children with Thalassemia major. This is a descriptive-analytical investigation in which 500 children with thalassemia major were enrolled by using systematic random sampling. The patients were the ones who attended to Shiraz transfusion centers and were divided into two groups of defroxamine group who had defroxamine injection before and the control group in which the patients did not receive any defroxamine injection. Data were collected by measuring the height, weight, arm and head circumference and interviewing with parents of children. SPSS software was utilized to analyze the data through inferred statistic tests(chi-square and variance analysis). The results indicated that 62.8 percent of patients have regular defroxamine injection. There was a significant difference between two groups in regard to the mean height, weight and arm circumference(P=0. 001) and head circumference(P=0.02). The study findings demonstrated that chelation therapy will be effective in promoting the physical growth of children with Thalassemia major specially during the first years of life. It is recommended that patients receive regular blood transfusion with chelation therapy.