DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2019.v07i02.002

Pages: 40-45

Thalassemia, a major public health problem in India, especially in tribal populations, is an autosomal recessive inherited blood disorder in which blood transfusion is the mainstay of treatment which in turn may lead to iron-induced injury in the heart, liver, pancreas and endocrine system. The Paediatric tribal population receiving multiple blood transfusions for treatment of β-thalassemia had been studied for evaluating the relationship between iron overload with thyroid dysfunction. Information pertaining to demographics, blood transfusion and the nature of chelation therapy etc. was obtained on one hundred patients, attending Bankura Sammilani Medical College, Bankura, and receiving multiple blood transfusions. Blood samples were analyzed for assessment of serum Ferritin, TSH, fT3 and fT4 concentrations by ELISA and serum iron by auto-analyzer and compared with age and sex matched one hundred healthy comparison group. The study group was found to have higher average serum ferritin, iron and TSH levels but lower fT3 and fT4 levels compared to that of the comparison group but and the difference was statistically significant. There were positive correlations between serum TSH and serum ferritin while TSH had no relation with serum iron. Serum ferritin also possessed positive correlation with serum iron. Serum fT3 and fT4 had no relation with serum ferritin and iron. And it was also found that subclinical hypothyroidism was more than overt hypothyroidism among β-thalassemia major patients and female patients affected much in hypothyroidism than the males.