β-Thalassaemia Major in Kuwait

A combined retrospective and prospective study of 129 β-thalassaemia major patients seen between 1965 and 1995 in Sabah Hospital, Kuwait has been carried out. The age range at diagnosis was 2 to 84 months, median 9 months. In ∼80 per cent, the patients were outcomes of first- or second-cousin marriages. Nine (7 per cent) of the patients were HBsAg positive, while 42 (33 per cent) were hepatitis C seropositive. Eleven (9 per cent) patients had had bone marrow transplantation (BMT). There was no BMT-related mortality, but there were three graft rejections and two cases of chronic graftversus-host disease (GVHD).