Malaysian socio-demographic characteristics, mean haemoglobin levels and BMI distribution of the monthly transfused group (MTG) and non-monthly transfused group (NMTG) thalassemia patients
Keywords:
thalassemia, socio-demographic, body mass index, haemoglobin, monthly-transfused group, non-monthly-transfused groupAbstract
Background: Thalassemia is a genetic blood disorder characterized by insufficient haemoglobin level due to mutation in the globin chains causing anaemia with iron overload and the most common genetic haemoglobinopathy in Malaysia. They are grouped as transfusion dependent and non-dependent according to their transfusion requirement. The frequency of thalassemia transfusions can be discriminated further into monthly to non-monthly transfusion group. Objective: To analyze the socio-demographic characteristic, haemoglobin levels and BMI distribution after classifying the thalassemia patients according to monthly transfused group (MTG), non-monthly transfused group (NMTG) and comparing to a healthy individual control group. Methods and Materials: This was a prospective cross-sectional study gathering data on socio-demographic characteristic, haemoglobin levels and BMI distribution of patients with MTG and NMTG thalassemia patients from a thalassemia clinic in Ampang Hospital and comparing them to healthy individuals in Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia. The study embarked between August to October 2020. Results: Our study clearly shows in adult thalassemia MTG are predominantly in Malay ethnicity and younger in comparison to NMTG. The mean Hb levels of MTG is lower compared to NMTG regardless of the genotype and phenotype characteristics.
Downloads
References
A. A. Asadi-Pooya and H. Karamifar, “Body mass index in children with beta-thalassemia major,” Turk J Haematol, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 177–180, 2004.
A. N. Saliba et al., “Serum ferritin values between 300 and 800 ng/mL in nontransfusion-dependent thalassemia: A probability curve to guide clinical decision making when MRI is unavailable,” Am. J. Hematol., vol. 92, no. 3, pp. E35–E37, Mar. 2017, doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajh.24628.
A. S. Akers, D. Howard, and J. Ford, “Distinguishing iron deficiency anaemia from thalassemia trait in clinical obstetric practice,” J Pregnancy Reprod, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1–6, 2017.
A. T. Taher and A. N. Saliba, “Iron overload in thalassemia: different organs at different rates,” Hematology, vol. 2017, no. 1, pp. 265–271, Dec. 2017, doi: 10.1182/asheducation-2017.1.265.
A. T. Taher and M. D. Cappellini, “Luspatercept for β-thalassemia: beyond red blood cell transfusions,” Expert Opin. Biol. Ther., vol. 21, no. 11, pp. 1363–1371, 2021.
B. Modell and M. Darlison, “Global epidemiology of haemoglobin disorders and derived service indicators,” Bull. World Health Organ., vol. 86, no. 6, pp. 480–487, 2008.
Cappellini MD, Cohen A, Eleftheriou A, et al. Guidelines for the Clinical Management of Thalassaemia [Internet]. 2nd Revised edition. Nicosia (CY): Thalassaemia International Federation; 2008. Chapter 16, General Health Care and Lifestyle in Thalassaemia. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK173970/
E. Akbarpour et al., “Anemia prevalence, severity, types, and correlates among adult women and men in a multiethnic Iranian population: the Khuzestan Comprehensive Health Study (KCHS),” BMC Public Health, vol. 22, no. 1, p. 168, 2022, doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-12512-6.
F. Q. Nuttall, “Body Mass Index: Obesity, BMI, and Health: A Critical Review,” Nutr. Today, vol. 50, no. 3, 2015, [Online]. Available: https://journals.lww.com/nutritiontodayonline/Fulltext/2015/05000/Body_Mass_Index__Obesity,_BMI,_and_Health__A.5.aspx.
G. F. Atweh and D. Loukopoulos, “Pharmacological induction of fetal hemoglobin in sickle cell disease and β-thalassemia,” Semin. Hematol., vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 367–373, 2001, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0037-1963(01)90031-9.
G. Karponi and N. Zogas, “Gene therapy for beta-thalassemia: updated perspectives,” Appl. Clin. Genet., vol. 12, p. 167, 2019.
H. Hammod, T. A. Mokif, and H. J. Al-Harbi, “The correlation between thalassemia with body mass index and blood groups in children and adult patient in the province of Babylon, Iraq,” Asian J. Pharm. Clin. Res., vol. 11, no. 9, pp. 509–512, 2018.
K. Dobashi, “Evaluation of Obesity in School-Age Children,” J. Atheroscler. Thromb., vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 32–38, 2016, doi: 10.5551/jat.29397.
M. Cappellini, A. Cohen, A. Eleftheriou, A. Piga, J. Porter, and A. Taher, “Guidelines for the Clinical Management of Thalassaemia [Internet],” 2014.
Muthoharoh, B. L., Kartini, F., & Fitriahadi, E. (2022). Pregnant women’s perceptions of anemia and iron supplement consumption. International Journal of Health & Medical Sciences, 5(2), 183-192. https://doi.org/10.21744/ijhms.v5n2.1902
P. Dey, G. Konwar, and B. Sarkar, “BODY MASS INDEX IN THALASSEMIA CHILDREN,” J. Evol. Med. Dent. Sci., vol. 8, p. 1537+, Jul. 2019, [Online]. Available: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A592239036/AONE?u=anon~ea6bf253&sid=googleScholar&xid=a1db5a36.
R. Galanello and R. Origa, “Beta-thalassemia,” Orphanet J. Rare Dis., vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1–15, 2010.
Ratnawati, I. G. A. A., Suandayani, N. K. T., & Sutapa, G. N. (2019). The linearity of x-ray devices radiation output and its relationship with patient thickness. International Journal of Physical Sciences and Engineering, 3(3), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.29332/ijpse.v3n3.351
Suryasa, I. W., Rodríguez-Gámez, M., & Koldoris, T. (2021). Health and treatment of diabetes mellitus. International Journal of Health Sciences, 5(1), i-v. https://doi.org/10.53730/ijhs.v5n1.2864
WHO│Anaemia (2022). WHO. https://www.who.int/health-topics/anaemia#tab=tab_1
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2022 International journal of health sciences

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Articles published in the International Journal of Health Sciences (IJHS) are available under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives Licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Authors retain copyright in their work and grant IJHS right of first publication under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Users have the right to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles in this journal, and to use them for any other lawful purpose.
Articles published in IJHS can be copied, communicated and shared in their published form for non-commercial purposes provided full attribution is given to the author and the journal. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
This copyright notice applies to articles published in IJHS volumes 4 onwards. Please read about the copyright notices for previous volumes under Journal History.