Assessment of Thyroid Function in Children with Beta-Thalassemia Major Referred to Mofid Children’s Hospital,Tehran, Iran, between 2019-2020

Thalassemia has been classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a major public health problem. Meanwhile, hyperthyroidism is a serious complication and is thought to be associated with iron overload in patients with thalassemia major. The current study aimed to study the function of the thyroid gland in beta-thalassemia major patients who attended the thalassemia center in Mofid children's hospital of Tehran, Iran.

The present descriptive study carried out between 2019-2020 to evaluate the function of the thyroid gland in 40 children with beta-thalassemia major aged between 15-2 years.The demographical information of all the patients was collected and the serum total triiodothyronine (T4), ferritin, and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). All data were included in SPSS columns and were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square test, t-test, and Mann-Whitney U.

The results showed that ferritin level in %52.5 of patients was ≥ 3000 ng/ml. Moreover, %87.5 of the patients had normal T4 levels (0.8 to 2 deciliters). Among all patients, subclinical hypothyroidism was the common thyroid dysfunction (%20). Moreover, the most common thyroid dysfunction in patients with normal ferritin levels (≥ 3000 ng/ml) was subclinical hypothyroidism (P = 0.039). Also, the prevalence of hypothyroidism was found to be associated with different age groups (p = 0.036).

It seems that subclinical hypothyroidism is the most common thyroid dysfunction in patients with beta-thalassemia major. The early detection and treatment of patients could improve their quality of life.