Body iron status of children and adolescents with transfusion dependent β-thalassaemia: trends of serum ferritin and associations of optimal body iron control

This cross sectional study aims to describe the body iron status, trends of serum ferritin and associations of optimal body iron control in patients aged below 16 years with transfusion dependent β-thalassaemia attending Paediatric and Adolescent Thalassaemia Centres of the Colombo North Teaching Hospital of Sri Lanka. Out of 54 children, 51% were males and a majority were aged 11–16 years; 83% had β-thalassaemia major while 13% had HbE β-thalassaemia. Mean serum ferritin was 1778(± 1458) µg/l and 29% had optimal serum ferritin (below 1000 µg/l). Trend of mean serum ferritin over time showed gradual decline between 2011 and 2017 and longitudinal trend of individual patients at yearly intervals showed gradual rise until 5 years of age and plateauing thereafter. All except two patients were receiving iron chelator medication of which the most commonly used was oral deferasirox (92%). The most common iron-related complications were short stature (24.1%) and pubertal delay (42.8% of > 14 years). None of the patients had hypothyroidism, hypoparathyroidism or diabetes. Optimal serum ferritin levels were significantly associated with the diagnosis of thalassaemia at a later age (23.6 vs 9.0 months) and higher family income (OR-4.81;95%CI 1.17–19.67) however was not associated with the age of the patient or duration of transfusion.