Correlation between Short Stature with Serum Ferritin Levels in Major Beta-Thalassemia Patients at Kediri District General Hospital

Abstract

In thalassemia, a lifelong sequence of blood transfusions leads to iron overload characterized by increased ferritin levels. Many factors, including iron overload may cause growth delay. High ferritin levels are believed to lead to short stature in children with thalassemia. This study aims to determine the correlation between short stature and ferritin levels in children with major beta thalassemia at Kediri District General Hospital. This research is an observational analytic with a cross-sectional design conducted on 17 subjects of beta thalassemia major patients at Pediatric Health Sciences (IKA) Kediri District General Hospital who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria in December 2022-January 2023. The measuring instrument used in this study was anthropometric status, explained through age stature, while the ferritin levels was obtained from the patient's medical record. Spearman's rank order correlation test was used in the analysis. There were 17 respondents, 82,36% children in short categories and 17,64% in normal categories. The Spearman correlation test has the p-value = 0.000 and r = -0,736. A strong negative correlation exists between short stature and ferritin levels in beta-thalassemia major patients at Kediri District General Hospital that means the higher ferritin levels, the higher incidence rate of short stature.