Endocrinopathies in Turkish Children with Thalassemia Major

Abstract

Aim: Endocrinopathies are common in patients with thalassemia major (TM) and affect their life quality. Our aim was to identify the frequency of growth retardation and endocrine complications in these patients. Materials and Methods: Sixty-two patients aged 3-18 years with TM were evaluated retrospectively for height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and pubertal stage. Blood tests for endocrine function, and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) results were recorded. Results: The mean age of 62 subjects (33 females/29 males) was 10.4 +/- 3.9 years. The frequency of <0.001). Delayed puberty/hypogonadism was present in 37% of 19 adolescents. Thirteen percent of the subjects had vitamin D deficiency (<10 ng/mL), hyperparathyroidism was observed in 29% of the subjects, while subclinical hypothyroidism (thyroid-stimulating hormone 5-10 IU/mL) was determined in 3 (5.5%) of the 55 subjects. In OGTT, impaired fasting glucose was seen in 7 subjects (14.5%), impaired glucose tolerance in 3 (6.3%), diabetes mellitus in 1 (2.1%), and hypoglycemia at 120-min was observed in 5 subjects (10.4%). Overall, 67.7% of the 62 subjects had height standard deviation score