FREQUENCY OF PULMONARY HYPERTENSION IN THALASSEMIA PATIENTS

Abstract

Background: Pulmonary hypertension is one of the complications of thalassemia. Objective: To determine the frequency of
pulmonary hypertension in cases of thalassemia. Methodology: This was a cross sectional study, conducted at Department of
Cardiology, Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Rahim Yar Khan from 1st July to 31st December 2017. In this study, cases of thalassemia of age
5 years or more were included. The diagnosed cases of thalassemia irrespective of its type and for at least 1 year in duration were
included. They were assessed for echocardiography at same institute and pulmonary hypertension was labelled as yes when
pulmonary arterial pressure was more than 35 mmHg. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 23. Results: In this study there
were total 105 cases of thalassemia, out of which 63 (60%) were males and 42 (40%) were females. The mean age of the patients
was 9.43±3.89 years. The mean ALT was 23.78±7.13 (U/L), mean AST and ALP were 26.54±8.08 and 75.43±21.08(U/L). Mean
serum urea and serum creatinine were13.23±3.48 and 0.89±0.05(mg/dl). Pulmonary hypertension was seen in 57 (54.29%) of the
cases; observed more in females affecting 24 (57.14%) cases with p value of 0.78. It high in age group more than 12 years where it
was seen in 15 (83.33%) out of 18 cases with p value of 0.18. This was also more common in cases with haemoglobin of 7 g/dl or
less where it was seen in 20 (66.67%) out of 30 cases with p value of 0.46. Conclusion: Pulmonary hypertension is very common
among cases of thalassemia and it is more common among patients of age more than 12 years.