Assessment of Body Composition and Insulin Reistance in Patients with Thalassemia

Abstract

Beta-thalassemias are a group of hereditary blood disorders characterized by anomalies in the synthesis of the beta chains of hemoglobin resulting in variable phenotypes ranging from severe anemia to clinically asymptomatic individuals. Three main forms have been described: thalassemia major, thalassemia intermedia and thalassemia minor and is usually presented at 4 - 6 months of life, due to the protective effect of high hemoglobin F concentration at birth that slowly declines through the first year of life. This study is a retrospective cross-sectional study included 250 children aged (5-15 years) divided into 200 child with thalathaemia and 50 normal control children, attending the hematology clinic of pediatric hospital of Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. The objective of the current study was to assess growth and body composition in patients with thalassemia using body composition of fat, lean body mass, which was assesse