Iron Overload and Endocrine Dysfunction in Adults with Transfusion-Dependent Beta-Thalassemia and Growth Retardation: A Correlational Study

Background & Objective: Iron overload remains a significant concern in patients with transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia (TDT). The purpose of this study was to char-acterize iron load and endocrine profile of adult transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia patients and to evaluate their correlation with growth retardation. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at PIMS Hospital, Islamabad, involving 62 patients with either homozygous or HbE beta-thalassemia who receiving regular blood transfusions. Serum ferritin (SF) and transferrin saturation (TS) were used to assessed iron overload, while endocrine functioning was evaluated through measurements of thy-roid-stimulating hormone-sensitive (TSHs) and free thyroxine (FT4) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Data was analyzed using SPSS v26.0 and R v4.3.1, which in-cluded chi-square test, Pearson correlation, and multivariable regression to explore as-sociations between iron indices and endocrine dysfunction. Results: Serum ferritin demonstrated significant negative correlations with FT4 (r = −0.348, p = 0.005) and IGF-1 (r = −0.302, p = 0.015). MRI T2* pancreas values correlated positively with FT4 (r = 0.268, p = 0.037) and IGF-1 (r = 0.312, p = 0.015). Patients with ferritin >5,000 ng/mL exhibited a higher prevalence of low IGF-1 levels (89.2% vs. 64.0%, p = 0.018). No significant gen-der-based differences were observed in endocrine parameters. Conclusion: Pancreatic iron burden and elevated serum ferritin were significantly associated with impaired thyroid and growth axis function, highlighting the value of integrating MRI T2* and biochemical markers for early endocrine risk stratification in adult TDT patients.