Yassen Rashad ABDULKAREEM, Abdulsatar Kamil FAEQ
Perinatal Journal - 2026;34(3):20-25
The cardiac complications are the most common leading cause of morbidity and mortality in beta-thalassemia major patients due to iron overload secondary to frequent blood transfusions. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of cardiac complications in the patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia and associated factors. The present study is a cross-sectional study conducted in the Erbil Thalassemia Centre, Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. A total of 200 patients with beta-thalassemia major recruited to participate. The patients were assessed with echocardiography to check for possible cardiac complications. Data were analyzed using SPSS, with the chi-square test and the t-test used for statistical analysis. A total of 200 patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia participated. The prevalence of cardiac complications is 16.5%, in which 7%, 4.5% and 5% had diastolic dysfunction, pulmonary hypertension, and heart failure, respectively. The mean age was 23.65 (+/- 12.39) years, and the mean duration of blood transfusion was 19.69 (+/- 12.5) years. The occurrence of complications had a significant correlation to mean age (P value = 0.005) and blood transfusion duration (P value = 0.003). It also has a significant correlation with gender (P value < 0.0001). However, there is no significant correlation with either a specific diet pattern (P value = 0.531), smoking (P value = 0.085), or alcohol (P value = 0.493). The prevalence of cardiac complications among patients with Transfusion-Dependent Thalassemia (TDT) was high and had a significant correlation with age, gender, and transfusion duration. We recommend early screening for detection and treatment of iron overload to minimize the cardiac complications.
