Assessment of the Relation between Hypothyroidism & Serum Level of Ferritin in ß Thalassemia Patients

ß-thalassemia Major is one of the most common diseases in Iran especially in Golestan province. Blood transfusion has many important complications such as endocrine disorders & Hypothyriodism which can result in disability & untimely mortality. This study was designed to determine the association between Hypothyroidism & serum level of ferritin in these patients. This study was performed on all patients in thalassemia center of Gorgan (n=185) with age range of 1-37 years.During five years, level of ferritin & T3, T4, TSH were measured every three & 12 months respectively. Data were analyzed using SPSS software.Thirty patients had hypothyroidism. Mean age was 17.8 years & male/female ratio was 1. Five patients were under the age of 10. The average level of ferritin at the onset of complication was 2528.400±2157.300 ng/ml. Serum level of ferritin in hypothyroidism, had shown a significant difference in comparison to non-hypothyroid patients (p<0.05).This study showed that to prevent hypothyroidism in major thalassemia, we could start clinical & para-clinical studies¸ such as checking serum level of ferritin. Although endocrine abnormalities are usually sought in patients over 10 years of age, we recommend starting the endocrine screening at age 5 since we had 5 patients under the age of ten with these abnormalities.