Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in patients with minor beta thalassemia and its related factors: a cross-sectional study

Background: Atherosclerotic disorders, hypertension and lipid profile alterations are of a lower prevalence in patients with minor beta thalassemia. On the other hand, nowadays, metabolic syndrome is considered as one of the major risk factors of developing cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, the present study was performed to determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in patients with minor beta thalassemia. Methods: In this case-control study, body length, weight and waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting blood sugar [FBS], triglyceride, cholesterol, HDL, and LDL levels were determined in 150 patients with minor beta thalassemia and 300 healthy individuals as control group [matched based on age and sex]. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was calculated based on ATPIII criteria. Data were analyzed through SPSS16 software package. Results: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 12.7% in the thalassemia group and 36.7% in the control group [p < 0.0001]. In the patient group, 3 ones [8.3%] of those with metabolic syndrome were male and 16 ones [14%] were female [p = 0.5]. Mean age of patients with metabolic syndrome was 39.4 +/- 8.5 years and mean age of those without metabolic syndrome was 36.4 +/- 7.8 years [p = 0.1]. Mean BMI of those with metabolic syndrome was 31.3 +/- 4.1 kg/m(2) and that of those without metabolic syndrome was 24.2 +/- 4.4 kg/m(2) [p < 0.0001]. Conclusions: The obtained results show lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome in patients with minor thalassemia. Moreover, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in patients with minor thalassemia showed no relationship with sex and age and these patients had just higher BMI.