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Abstract Background: Thalassemia is the most common congenital anomaly in Bangladesh, and 14,000 children are born with thalassemia each year. The risk of developing an endocrine complication in thalassemia is 9.7% in 5 years. Despite the high prevalence, data on the rate of endocrinopathies in thalassemia are limited in this country. Aim: This study was done to see the frequency of endocrinopathies in thalassemia in Bangladesh. Materials and Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study included all patients with thalassemia in the Department of Endocrinology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University between September 2021 and December 2022. Data were collected from patient records retrospectively. Endocrine disorders were diagnosed as per standard definitions and criteria. Results: Patients had either hemoglobin E beta-thalassemia (59.34%) or beta-thalassemia major (40.66%). The mean age of 91 patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia was 18.30 ± 5.27 years. About 53.3% were female. The mean hemoglobin level was 7.70 ± 1.57 g/dL. About 76.92% had any one type of endocrine disorder. Short stature was the most common endocrine presentation, occurring in 45.83% of patients under 20 years of age. One-third had glucose intolerance (34.9%), hypothyroidism (32.9%), and hypogonadism (30.8%). There was a positive relation between hemoglobin level and height ( r = 0.406, R 2 = 16.48%, P = 0.017, n = 72). Conclusion: There was a high rate of endocrine disorders in patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia. The most common disorder was growth retardation and height decreased with decreasing hemoglobin.
Haq et al. (Wed,) studied this question.