Frequency of Hepatitis B or C in Patients of Beta Thalassemia Registered in the Thalassemia Centre, Pak Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi

Objective: To determine the frequency of Hepatitis B or C and associated factors in patients with beta Thalassemia registered in the Thalassemia Centre, Pak Emirates military hospital, Rawalpindi. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Thalassemia Centre, Pak Emirates military hospital, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Aug 2019 to Apr 2020. Methodology: This study involved 280 children of both genders aged between 2-12 years managed for beta-Thalassemia Major and having transfusions at the or Thalassemia Centre. Laboratory testing for hepatitis B and C was performed on all the patients by the ELISA method. Age, gender, duration of receiving transfusions, and ALT levels were also associated with the seropositivity of any of the viruses. Results: The Mean age of the patients was 7.26±4.26 years. There were 150 (53.5%) male and 130 (46.5%) female patients in the study patients. Out of 280 patients, 238(85.0%) were negative for both viruses, 9(3.2%) were hepatitis B positive, and 33(11.8%) were hepatitis C positive. Raised ALT levels (p-value <0.001) and increased frequency of red cell transfusions (p-value=0.006) had a significant relationship with seropositivity of any of the viruses. Conclusion: Seropositivity of hepatitis B and C was not an uncommon finding among our target population. Hepatitis C was more common of the two viruses studied. Raised ALT levels among these patients should not be ignored, and patients with increased duration of being transfused should be considered at high risk for acquiring these viral infections.