Abstract

Introduction: Diabetes Mellitus (DM) represents a major concern in Thalassaemia Major (TM) patients. Aim: The present study was conducted to evaluate the frequency of Impaired Fasting Glucose (IFG) and DM in TM patients in Southeast of Iran. Materials and Methods: Fasting Blood Glucose (FBS) was determined using fasting blood samples in 148 TM patients. Demographical data was collected by a questionnaire. Clinical and laboratory variables including cell blood counts, pretransfusion Haemoglobin (Hb) level, and five-year ferritin were extracted from medical records. Statistical analysis was performed in SPSS19.0 software using chi-square, student t-test and logistic regression. Results: Females and males comprised 83 (56.1) and 65 (43.9) subjects respectively. The mean age and mean five-year ferritin were 17.3 +/- 6.1 year-old and 5060.6 +/- 2395 ng/ml respectively. Overall, 39 (26.4) patients had IFG, while 13 (8.8) were diagnosed with DM. Significant differences were identified in the mean age, volume of transfused blood per occasion, and mean five-years ferritin between the patients with IFG or DM and the patients with normal fasting glucose level. Patients with age > 25-year-old had an increased risk of both IFG (OR=4.7,95 CI: 1.3-17, p=0.01) and DM (OR=7.1, 95 CI: 1-49.2, p=0.04). In addition, splenectomized patients showed a higher risk for IFG (OR=4.3, 95 CI: 1.5-12.1, p=0.005), and ferritin value > 6000 ng/ml were associated with an elevated risk of DM (OR=7, 95 CI: 0.8-60.1, p=0.07). Conclusion: Our results indicated that higher age, mean fiveyears ferritin, volume of blood transfused per occasion, as well as splenectomy were risk factors of IFG and DM in TM patients.