Abstract

Background: Pulmonary hypertension is one of the complications of thalassemia. Objective: To determine the frequency ofpulmonary hypertension in cases of thalassemia. Methodology: This was a cross sectional study, conducted at Department ofCardiology, Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Rahim Yar Khan from 1st July to 31st December 2017. In this study, cases of thalassemia of age5 years or more were included. The diagnosed cases of thalassemia irrespective of its type and for at least 1 year in duration wereincluded. They were assessed for echocardiography at same institute and pulmonary hypertension was labelled as yes whenpulmonary arterial pressure was more than 35 mmHg. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 23. Results: In this study therewere total 105 cases of thalassemia, out of which 63 (60%) were males and 42 (40%) were females. The mean age of the patientswas 9.43±3.89 years. The mean ALT was 23.78±7.13 (U/L), mean AST and ALP were 26.54±8.08 and 75.43±21.08(U/L). Meanserum urea and serum creatinine were13.23±3.48 and 0.89±0.05(mg/dl). Pulmonary hypertension was seen in 57 (54.29%) of thecases; observed more in females affecting 24 (57.14%) cases with p value of 0.78. It high in age group more than 12 years where itwas seen in 15 (83.33%) out of 18 cases with p value of 0.18. This was also more common in cases with haemoglobin of 7 g/dl orless where it was seen in 20 (66.67%) out of 30 cases with p value of 0.46. Conclusion: Pulmonary hypertension is very commonamong cases of thalassemia and it is more common among patients of age more than 12 years.