Assessment of quality of life among beta-thalassemia major patients attending the hematology outpatient clinics at Cairo University Hospital

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.