Author(s): Nibarana Satapathy, Nayantara Ghosh, Y Archana, Bisnu Prasad Dash
Background: To assess the plasma total cholesterol of male and female β-thalassaemia patients. The plasma cholesterol of normal individual compared with the β-thalassaemia cases.
Methods: From October 2010 to March 2011, we enrolled 36 consecutive patients with β-thalassaemia that visited District Head Hospital, Balasore and Odisha every month for routine examinations. The sample was collected in the EDTA vial (5 ml), immediately centrifuged at 5000 rpm for 5 min and supernatant (plasma) collected in to the microcentrifuge tube and stored in -20ºC freezer for other biochemical experiment. We have used Infinite cholesterol kit. We also found 5 sickle patients and included them in our analysis.
Results: Of the 36 thalassaemic patients, 25 were males (12 ± 5.91 years) and 11 were females (9.08 ± 4.32 years) with comparison to 30 normal cases (15-35 years). Data analysis revealed that total cholesterol level, in case of normal (178.8.5 ± 31.1mg/dl), in thalassaemic cases (135.8.6 ± 29.3mg/dl) and in case of 5 sickle patients (143.3 ± 15.7mg/dl). The total cholesterol levels in case of normal is high than that of thalassaemic and sickle patients. In case of thalassaemia cases the low total cholesterol is 47.4 mg/dl. The expected values of total cholesterol is <200 mg/dl. In case of thalassaemia the values are too low than expected values. The ‘t’ test data revealed that there is comparison of two mean of the sample (normal and thalassaemic) is negligible small.
Conclusion: The present study revealed that the majority of males and females with beta-thalassaemia have their blood lipid levels within the normal range, and lower than the healthy individuals of the same age and population. Such low level of cholesterol in thalassaemic patients seems to reflect the inability of the organism to balance the increased cholesterol requirement for red cell membrane formation. It is conceivable that the availability of cholesterol, ordinarily used in steroid hormone synthesis to control hypercoagulability.
