Authors: Hira Soahil , Ayesha Fazal , Khalid Parvez Lone , Rizwana Kamran , Farhat Ijaz , Sahar Javed , Irum Fayyaz , Rana Khurrum

Abstract

Background and Objective: β-thalassemia is inherited blood disorder which affects the metabolism of whole body including bones. Absence of globin chain leads to anemia which results in high serum ferritin levels. It affects the levels of serum leptin. This study is designed to evaluate serum leptin and its correlation with bone density in healthy and β-thalassemia children.
Methods: It is a comparative cross-sectional study which includes 65 normal and 65 β-thalassemia major children. Their demographic data was recorded. All children were examined for bone status with the help of Quantitative Ultrasound Bone Profiler. Z-score, Speed of Sound (Ad-SOS) and transmission time through bone (BTT) were recorded. Plasma sample was collected to determine serum Leptin level by Enzyme Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) method.
Results: In normal children mean AD-SOS was 1906.86 ± 49.53 m/sec and of β-thalassemia major children was 1893.62 ± 57.88 m/sec. The mean serum Leptin of normal children was 3.12 ± 2.84 ng/ml and of β-thalassemia children was 1.38 ± 1.17 ng/ml.
Conclusion: Bone density is reduced in β-thalassemia children in contrast to healthy children. Serum Leptin is significantly decreased in β-thalassemia major children than in healthy controls. Positive correlation of serum leptin with bone profile was observed, though not statistically significant, which indicates that leptin deficiency is a cofactor leading to decline in bone density at early age.

Keywords: β-thalassemia major, Bone density, Leptin.