Clinical, Hematological, and Nutritional Profiling of Thalassemia Patients: Insights From a Cross-Sectional Study

Thalassemia is a significant inherited hemoglobin (Hb) disorder that poses a major public health burden in Bangladesh. While the role of nutrition and lifestyle in disease management is now recognized, there is still little data on the sociodemographic, clinical, nutritional, and lifestyle factors of thalassemia patients and their relationship with Hb levels. The aim of this study was to describe these factors and identify independent predictors of Hb levels in individuals with thalassemia in Bangladesh.

This was a multicenter cross-sectional study of 270 previously diagnosed thalassemia patients from thalassemia care facilities in Bangladesh. Hb electrophoresis was used for the diagnosis of all participants, but no genotype subtype was recorded. Sociodemographic, clinical, dietary, and lifestyle information was gathered, and blood samples were tested for Hb levels. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize participant characteristics, and multivariable linear regression was used to determine the independent predictors of Hb levels after adjusting for potential confounders.

The participants had a mean age of 13.9 ± 10.8 years; 55.0% were male, and 93.0% were Muslim. The mean BMI was significantly low (15.8 ± 3.4 kg/m²), and the mean Hb concentration was severely low (7.5 ± 1.3 g/dL). Dietary quality was poor, with high consumption of junk food (98.9%) and trans fat (99.6%), high consumption frequency of raw salt (94.1%), and low consumption frequency of vegetables (5.9%). The multivariate model was not statistically significant (R ² = 0.111; F (21, 248) = 1.47; p = 0.089). Daily fruit intake was inversely associated with Hb levels (β = -0.76; 95% CI: -1.30 to -0.21; p = 0.007); however, this association was not significant in the unadjusted analysis and was not significant after multiple testing. The apparent association with trans-fat intake was not interpretable since only one participant reported avoiding trans-fat. Hb levels were not significantly related to any other demographic, clinical, or dietary variable.

Thalassemia patients in Bangladesh were found to be severely anemic, unduly undernourished, and with poor dietary quality. The assessed factors accounted for little variation in Hb levels, and none of the factors were associated after multiple-testing correction. These findings emphasize the importance of adequate transfusion management and nutrition in these participants.