PB2399 BETA THALASSEMIA MINOR PATIENTS: NOT TIRED, BUT DEPRESSED AND ANXIOUS

Abstract

Background:The quality of life has been influenced unfavourably and the prevalance of either depression or anxiety has been increased in beta thalassemia major (BTM) and beta thalassemia intermedia (BTI) patients. Yet, the studies including the quality of life in beta thalassemia minor (BTm) subjects are limited and just the depression was demonstrated to be frequent in individuals with BTm, compared to the healthy population. Likewise, the data regarding the presence of fatique and anxiety in adult BTm subjects is insufficientAims:We aimed to investigate whether the severity of fatigue and the incidences of depression and anxiety of patients with BTm are different than healthy individuals using Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).Methods:Seventy‐seven BTm subjects were included in this study. The individuals (n = 38) using any medications, alcohol or tobacco; and having any chronic diseases and sleeping disturbances, were excluded. The remaining 39 BTm subjects were enrolled in the study. They had also normal biochemical parameters, thyroid function tests and C‐reactive protein (CRP). Twenty‐five healthy control subjects who were matched with age, sex, marital status, educational status and body mass index (BMI), were also included.Results:The BTm and the control groups were comparable in terms of gender, age, BMI, educational status and marital status (p = 0.368, 0.755, 0.851, 0.785, 0.709 respectively) (Table 1). Fatigue Severity Scale score was ≥4 in 23 (59.0%) BTm subjects and in 15 (60%) control subjects (p = 1.0). HADS anxiety score was ≥10 in 20 (51.3%) BTm subjects and in 5 (20.0%) control subjects (p = 0.018) and HADS depression score was ≥ 7 in 20 (51.3%) BTm subjects and 6 (24.0%) healthy control subjects (p = 0.039). There was no correlation of hemoglobin with FSS score (p = 0.526, r = ‐0.105), HADS anxiety score (p = 0.703, r = ‐0.063) or HADS depression score (p = 0.718, r = ‐0.06) in BTm group (Table 2).Summary/Conclusion:We found that both depression and anxiety were higher in BTm patients than healthy individuals, but this difference was not feasible for fatigue.imageimage