Insight of Minor Thalassemia Couples on Abortion of Major Thalassemia Fetus

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant professor of pediatric hematology, Bobol University of Medical Sciences, Bobol, Iran

2 Assistant professor of pediatrics, Bobol University of Medical Sciences, Bobol, Iran

3 Assistant professor of pediatric endocrinology, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

Introduction
 
Thalassemia is the most common genetic disorders in the world. There are more than 20.000 beta thalassemia major patients in Iran. Most parts of the world, including Iran, apply a national program of thalassemia prevention. In our country, prenatal diagnosis and pregnancy termination has been an effective program in this area. But some studies do not consider this method appropriate. The aim of this study was to evaluate the attitude of thalassemia minor couples having a thalassemia major fetus.
Materials and Methods
This study was done on 65 thalassemia minor couples having a thalassemia major fetus from January 2008 till February 2009 and both couples answered the questionnaire in a quiet place without a questioner (a person asking question).
Results
The ages of mothers and fathers were 17 to 35 years (24±4.65 years) and 22 to 39 years (30.36±5.23) respectively. All couples except one attempted abortion and all of them were upset of having a thalassemia major fetus.
Conclusion
Although the legal abortion with the approval of religious leaders as long as 16 weeks of gestational age is performed in Iran, and in our study 98.4% of cases had attempted abortion awared of thalassemia major person’s future, but all families were hurt with the happened insident. So, further investigations should be done for the couples’ complications. It is recommended to reduce the physical and psychological complications of couples using PGD method rather than CVS.

Keywords

medical journal of mashhad university of medical sciences
Volume 56, Issue 3 - Serial Number 3
July and August 2013
Pages 177-181

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