Assessment of Hematological Findings of Patients with Thalassemia in the North of Jordan

Background: thalassemia is considered as a set of disorders that are characterized by inherent hemoglobin defects and associated with lowered synthesis of globin chains resulting in abnormal production of globin which determines how much severe is the thalassemia. Study objectives: the main objective of this study was to examine the patterns of hematological findings in a group of patients with thalassemia treated in Princess Rahma Hospital, Jordan. Methods and subjects: a retrospective study design was conducted to collect data from patients with thalassemia. A total of 117 files of thalassemia patients were reviewed. Demographic and hematologic parameters were identified for each patient. Data were collected and entered into excel sheet. After data collection had been finished, data were entered into SPSS version 21 for statistical analysis. Data were presented as frequency and percentages for categorized variables such as gender, and as means and standard deviations for remaining hematological parameters and age. The relationship between variables was computed using T test and Pearson correlation. Significance was considered at ?<0.05.Study findings: the mean age of participants was 17.82?8.28 years, and about 52% of participants were males. The mean levels of WBCs and RBCs were normal. The mean level of hemoglobin was 8.25?1.75 (g/dl), and the mean level of HCT was 23.85?6.11 (%). In general, hematological parameters associated with thalassemia indicated that patients had thalassemia intermedia. The results also showed significant and positive correlations between age and hematological parameters. Conclusions: The findings of the present study showed that patients had thalassemia intermedia and age was associated significantly and correlated positively and significantly with hematological parameters