Epidemiologic Study of COVID-19 in Iranian Beta-Thalassemia Patients According to Disease Severity

Abstract

Background: Thalassemia is a genetic disorder that leads to chronic anemia and requires frequent blood transfusions. With the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, thalassemia patients are at increased risk of disease. Objectives: We aimed to study the epidemiology of COVID-19 in thalassemia patients and its mortality to determine the disease severity. Methods: This cross-section study was conducted in the first year of the pandemic. Provincial information was collected. A questionnaire was developed to collect demographic, clinical, and paraclinical data and outcomes using history, examination, and laboratory tests. The patients' data were analyzed statistically using SPSS (v. 21). Results: The number of thalassemia patients was 19 387, of whom 442 were infected by COVID-19 (50.9% female and 49.1% male), with a mean age of 36.98 years (16 - 67). Of them, 419 had a positive PCR test, and 23 had no positive test. Also, 98% of patients complained of fever, and 54% had cough. Of 442 patients, 14 (3.2%) died, four having a ferritin level > 5000. There was a significant relationship between COVID-19 mortality and increased pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) (P value = 0.003). Also, there was a correlation between COVID-19 mortality and ferritin level (P value = 0.005), while there were no significant correlations between COVID-19 mortality and respiratory symptoms (P value = 0.30), PCR test result (P value = 0.74), and diabetes (P value = 0.47). Conclusions: Thalassemia patients are more prone to COVID-19. Comparing familial and thalassemia patients statistics, the prevalence and percentage of COVID-19 mortality were higher among the patients.