ANTITHROMBIN III LEVEL IN PATIENTS OF β-THALASSEMIA: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Thalassemia is a genetic disorder associated with reduced production rate of either a single or more globin chains in the haemoglobin. Thalassemia is divided into two main types, alpha (α) thalassemia and beta (β) thalassemia. The aim of this study was to determine antithrombin III level in diagnosed patients of beta thalassemia major. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Sheikh Zayed Hospital Lahore from Jan 2014 to Jan 2015. The sample size was 100 including 50 healthy controls and 50 patients with β thalassemia major. Antithrombin III assay was done with Chromogenic determination of Antithrombin (AT) on an auto analyzer. Results: Mean age splenectomized group was 9.1±2.2 years and that for non-splenectomized and control group was 6.5±2.9. The mean antithrombin III level for the splenectomized group was 66.0±8.9% and that for non-splenectomized and control group was 78.6±9.6 and 91.9±4.7 respectively. The overall mean antithrombin III level for cases was 75.8±10.7. The differences for antithrombin III level were significant (p<0.001). The splenectomized group also had significantly lower antithrombin III level as compared to the non-splenectomized group (p=0.001). Conclusion: Antithrombin III level is significantly affected in thalassemia. A considerable difference was observed in antithrombin III levels of splenectomized and non-splenectomized patients