HEALTH RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE IN CHILDREN WITH THALASSAEMIA ASSESSED ON THE BASIS OF SF-20 QUESTIONNAIRE IN YAZD, IRAN: A CASE-CONTROL STUDY

Backgrounds: Thalassaemia is becoming serious public health problem throughout the Mediterranean region, Middle East, Indian subcontinents and also South East Asia. Its' global prevalence is about 2 per 1,000 newborns while its' prevalence in Iran is 8-4 per 1,000 newborns. The aim of this study was to compare the Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) of thalassaemia patients with the HRQOL of healthy children in terms of essential core domains for pediatric HRQOL measurement. Methods: This cross sectional study has been done in Yazd, Iran. 60 thalassaemia patients were selected randomly as case group and 120 healthy children as control group who were matched with respect to age and gender. The health related quality of life was measured with a self - administrated short - form questionnaire of Medical Outcomes study (SF-20). The SF-20 measure contains three dimensions about function (physical, social and role) and well-being (mental health, health perception and pain). Results: The results of this study showed significant difference between all dimension of SF-20 and QOL of patients in the case and control group (p<0.001). The QOL in the case group was 75.05 (SD=9.38), but in the control group was 93.4 (SD=6.42) out of 100. Conclusions: The effect of thalassaemia on the HRQOL in affected children has been related to reduction of their physical, social and mental capabilities.