Assessment of quality of life in adult thalassemic patients: a single-center experience

Background
Thalassemia is associated with some challenges, including frequent blood transfusions, daily use of iron chelators, cardiac and hepatic problems, as well as splenectomy; all these challenges affect the patient’s quality of life (QoL).


Objectives
To assess QoL in adult thalassemic patients.


Patients and methods
A total of 68 patients with thalassemia were enrolled. Short form (SF)-36 questionnaire was used to assess the QoL. Demographic, clinical, laboratory data, frequency of chelation therapy, and splenectomy were recorded.


Results

The mean age was 30.11 ± 10.98 years. 50 (73.5%) patients received chelation therapy. Thalassemia major patients had better physical function, role limitation (emotional), and physical component summary (PCS), with worse bodily pain (
P
=<0.001,
P
=<0.001,
P
=<0.001,
P
=<0.001, respectively) compared with thalassemia intermedia patients. Patients on Chelation therapy had significantly better general health (
P
=<0.001). Also, patients without complications had significantly better physical function, general health, and PCS (
P
=<0.001,
P
= 0.01,
P
=<0.001, respectively). Splenectomy group had significantly better physical function, bodily pain, and PCS (
P
=<0.0001,
P
=<0.001,
P
=<0.001, respectively). Predictors of low QoL were age, male sex, thalassaemia major, and transfusion dependency.



Conclusion
We found a significant negative impact of thalassemia and its treatment on QoL in terms of comorbidities, poor iron chelation, and poor income. This study suggested that modifying existing thalassemia management and care could be beneficial. Future studies are warranted to confirm such results.