Endocrine complications in patients of beta thalassemia major in a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan

Objective: to determine the major endocrine complications present in patients of thalassemia major presenting to a tertiary care center in karachi, pakistan. methods: records of all thallasemia major patients at a haematology department in a tertiary care hospital of karachi were retrospectively reviewed from may to august 2009 with specific focus on endocrine data and investigations. the patients' data was recorded in a questionnaire and analyzed using spss v.17, frequencies and percentages along with corresponding 95% confidence interval were computed. results: our data revealed that a significantly small percentage of those under care received regular endocrine follow-up. male hypo-gonadal abnormalities had the highest probability; 100% of the tested patients had decreased levels of testosterone, while 95.2% had raised serum creatinine levels. parathyroid dysfunction was noted in 40% of the patients. of those screened 29.4% had blood glucose levels in the diabetic range and 11.8% of the tested patients had reduced levels of ft4. conclusion: a high frequency at endocrine dysfunctions seen in thalasaemia patients included: male hypogonadism, parathyroid dysfunction, deranged blood glucose and ft4 levles.