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Health status, anxiety, depression, and quality of life of patients with thalassemia

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Abstract

Purpose

Thalassemia is one of the most common genetic disorders in the Mediterranean region, and is therefore considered a serious public health issue. In chronic conditions of this kind, survival and quality of life (QOL) of the patients are of the utmost importance and are influenced by psychological and social constraints. The current study aimed to examine various factors affecting the psychological burden, focusing on anxiety and depression levels, as well as the quality of life (QOL) of people suffering from thalassemia in Crete (Greece).

Methods

A cross-sectional study was carried out in 2018 in 119 patients suffering from thalassemia from three hospitals. Validated scales were used to assess the relative parameters using multivariate regression analysis.

Results

The data sample comprised 56 men (47.1%) and 63 women (52.9%) with an overall mean age of 39.7 years (± 8.5). Most of the participants exhibited low levels of anxiety/depression and high quality of life. Moreover, quality of life was found to relate positively with health status (p < 0.001), but multivariate logistic regression revealed that every unit on the anxiety score significantly increases the odds ratio for a lower quality of life score (OR: 1.66; 95% CI: 1.19–2.32) or a reverse relationship with health status (OR: 0.97; 95% CI: 0.94–1.00).

Conclusion

Overall, the patients were found to have a fairly normal life, resembling the standards of the general population. They are highly aware of their quality of life and exhibit low levels of anxiety and depression.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the people who participated in this study and truly appreciate their time and effort.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Health Science, Department of Nursing, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Heraklion, Greece

    Nikos Rikos, Georgia-Konstantina Giannadaki, Andromachi Spontidaki & Marilena Tzagkaraki

  2. Clinic of Social and Family Medicine, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Manolis Linardakis

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  1. Nikos Rikos
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  2. Georgia-Konstantina Giannadaki
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  3. Andromachi Spontidaki
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  4. Marilena Tzagkaraki
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Correspondence to Manolis Linardakis.

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Research involving human participants

Ethical approval: all procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Ethics Committee of the Hellenic Mediterranean University and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent: informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Rikos, N., Giannadaki, GK., Spontidaki, A. et al. Health status, anxiety, depression, and quality of life of patients with thalassemia. J Public Health (Berl.) 29, 1313–1320 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-020-01241-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-020-01241-y

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