Assessment of Quality of Life among Beta-Thalassemia Major Patients Attending the Hematology Outpatient Clinics at Cairo University Hospital

Mona Hamdy; Iman Hassan Draz; Inas Talaat El Sayed; Azza Ali Fahmy Ayyad; Marwa Rashad Salemd

doi:10.3889/oamjms.2021.5692

Authors

Mona Hamdy Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
Iman Hassan Draz Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
Inas Talaat El Sayed Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
Azza Ali Fahmy Ayyad Department of Pediatrics, Children Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357, Cairo, Egypt
Marwa Rashad Salemd Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2021.5692

Keywords:

Thalassemia major, Quality of life, Blood transfusions, Tertiary care hospital

Abstract

AIM: This paper aimed at assessing the quality of life (QoL) among beta (β)-thalassemia major patients using the short-form-36questionnaire (SF-36) and determining the factors associated with it.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among β-thalassemia major patients who were attending the hematology outpatient clinic at Cairo University Hospital using the consecutive sampling technique. Data were collected between October 2016 and March 2017. The QoL was assessed for patients aged ≥17 years. During the study period, a total number of 112 patients were included for participation.

RESULTS: The mean age of the studied group was 18.32 ± 1.33 years. Most of the included patients (93.63%) had 1 monthly blood transfusion. The mean total score of SF-36 was 44.90 ± 7.54. Among the QoL domains of the studied patients, the “general health perception” domain was the most affected one with a mean score of (add the value of the score here), while the “vitality” domain was the least affected one. No statistically significant difference was reported between males and females regarding different QoL domains except for the “vitality” domain which mean score was significantly higher in males compared to females (p = 0.05). The age at onset of the disease and at first blood transfusion was the most documented factors to be positively correlated with the QoL among the studied patients.

CONCLUSION: This study revealed that the QoL in thalassemia major patients is compromised. QoL assessment should be performed for all thalassemia patients to determine and implement the necessary interventions that focus on the affected domains.

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