Gender Disparities in Psychological Disturbances and Quality of Life Among Adolescent and Adult Patients with Thalassemia: A Review

Thalassemia is a chronic disease caused by impaired globin chain synthesis, leading to ineffective erythropoiesis, hemolysis, and chronic anemia. The treatment of patients with thalassemia, including blood transfusion combined with chelation therapy has progressed and improved their survival and prognosis. However, thalassemia-related psychological problems and impaired health-related quality of life (QoL) challenges still exist. Gender is one of the factors that has been suggested, to contribute to the disparities in psychological outcomes. This review article examined the evidence for gender differences in psychological disturbances and QoL in adolescent and adult patients with thalassemia. A non-systematic search of the literature was conducted in PubMed and Google Scholar for English full-text available from 2013 to 2023. We identified 23 studies with a sample size ≥ 100 that examined gender disparities in anxiety, depression, and QoL in adolescent and adult patients with thalassemia (mean prevalence of female = 53.1%; mean age = 28 years). Our review shows that there are gender disparities in psychological distress and QoL in adolescent and adult patients with thalassemia. Statistically significant gender differences were demonstrated in 62% of the psychological and QoL outcomes from 16 studies. Female patients had a higher prevalence of anxiety, depression, and poorer QoL in some studies. However, further studies with sufficient power and design are necessary to confirm the existence of gender disparities in psychological disturbances and QoL outcomes.

Secondary Chronic Immune Thrombocytopenia in Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma: A Rare Case Report

Objective: To present a case of rare secondary chronic immune thrombocytopenia in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Methods: A case of secondary ITP associated with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in a 58-year-old woman suffering from hemorrhagic tendencies that was refractory to conventional treatments of ITP was reported. This case is a rarity because there are not many cases of secondary chronic ITP due to DLBCL have been reported to date. Results: A 58-year-old woman was diagnosed with ITP around 11 months before she was admitted to the Emergency Room with bleeding. Previous treatment with steroid and azathioprine was only temporarily effective. During the course of treatment, splenomegaly and lymphadenopathy were identified, but lymph node biopsy was delayed by the thrombocytopenia. The drug was then replaced to the eltrombopag, which showed good response. However, the patient had to undergo splenectomy because of the mechanical effect of splenomegaly, with the biopsy result showed DLBCL. Immune thrombocytopenia then went into a complete remission after splenectomy. Conclusion: In cases of ITP that are refractory to conventional treatments, a thorough search for secondary ITP might be helpful, even if no underlying disorder is detected at the initial presentation.

Erythropoiesis Differences in Various Clinical Phases of Dengue Fever using Immature Reticulocyte Fraction Parameter

Objective: To determine the mechanism of erythropoiesis that led to anemia using the Immature Reticulocyte Fraction (IRF) parameter in various clinical phases of dengue fever. Methods: This study was a comparative analytical research using secondary data derived from the Dengue-associated Endothelial Cell Dysfunction and Thrombocyte Activation (DECENT) research. The study was performed at Dr. Hasan Sadikin Hospital Bandung, Indonesia from March 2011 to March 2012. Patients were grouped into fever, critical, recovery, and convalescent phases and a healthy control was established. Data collected were analyzed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test, followed by Friedman test and Mann-Whitney post hoc test. Results: There were 244 subjects participating in this study. The median IRF for all subjects was 4.8% with an IQR of 2.4-8.1%. The values of Immature Reticulocyte Fraction in fever-phase, critical-phase, recovery-phase, convalescent-phase and healthy-control were 1.8% (IQR of 0.5-2.85%), 3.6% (IQR of 1.8-5.0%), 7.05% (IQR of 4.08-11.85%, 7.3 % (IQR of 3.95-9.3%) and 4.1% (IQR of 2.2-6.6%), respectively. There was a significant difference in IRF between groups (p<0.05). The immature Reticulocyte Fraction in fever phase was significantly different from the IRF in other phases and healthy controls (p<0.05). Conclusions:There are changes in erythropoiesis activities detected through the IRF in various clinical phases of dengue infection. Erythropoiesis suppression occurs mainly during the fever phase and starts to be restored in the critical phase. In the recovery and convalescent phases, the erythropoiesis activities increase. This is the first study describing IRF in multiple phases of dengue disease.