Prevalence and Risk Factors for Complications in Patients with Nontransfusion Dependent Alpha- and Beta-Thalassemia

Table 4

Significant risk factors affecting complications from univariate analysis.

Complication	Significant variables	value
Extramedullary hematopoiesis	Gender (female)	0.050
	Thalassemia type (beta)	0.031
	Hemoglobin < 8 g/dL	0.003
	Platelets > 400,000 per cumm.	0.025
	Maximum ferritin > 800 ng/mL	0.004
	Splenectomy	0.019
	Iron chelation	0.001
Pulmonary hypertension	None	—
Heart failure	Splenectomy	0.035
Cholelithiasis	None	—
Abnormal LFT (ALT >50 U/L)	Iron chelation	0.007
	Maximum ferritin > 800 ng/mL	0.041
	HCV infection	0.143
Osteoporosis	Gender (female)	0.006
	Age > 40 years	0.003
Abnormal plasma glucose	None	—
Hypothyroidism	None	—
Hypogonadism	Splenectomy	0.016

value is not significant.