title: Marriage and child bearing in patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia major.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  With good care, patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia major (TDTM) can reach older ages, marry and reproduce. This study was conducted by the Thalassemia Research Center.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical notes of all TDTM patients and all non-transfusion-dependent thalassemia major (NTDTM) patients were reviewed from July to December 2012. Also, patients were interviewed. The questionnaire was made in consultation with research methodology experts and reliability was achieved by a pilot study of 12 patients, by the test-retest method (r = 0.9). Epidemiologic characteristics of patients and the pregnancy outcomes were recorded. Descriptive statistics were used with SPSS 17.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four hundred and nineteen medical records were reviewed. Three hundred and forty-five (82.5%) were TDTM. One hundred and seventy-five (50.7%) were female with a mean age of 25.4 ± 7.05 years and 42 (25%) had been married. Mean age of menarche and marriage was 15.4 ± 1.6 and 21.8 ± 4.5 years, respectively. Total number of live children is nine so far. Mode of delivery in female patients was cesarean section. Almost 78% of newborns weighed 2500-4000 g. Almost 22% of pregnancies were assisted. Male patients consisted of 170 (49.3%) and 55 (32.3%) of them had been married. Mean age at marriage was 24.27 ± 3.5 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With better management, patients with TDTM can reach the age of reproduction. Medical teams should be prepared for this possibility.
authors.affiliation: Thalassemia Research Center, Hemoglobinopathy Institute, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Mandana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zafari
authors.forename: Mehrnoush
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kosaryan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D002585:Cesarean Section; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D011247:Pregnancy; D011250:Pregnancy Complications, Hematologic / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D047928:Premature Birth / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D015995:Prevalence; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: fertility; infertility; pregnancy; thalassemia; transfusion-dependent thalassemia major