What are the symptoms of Thalassemia ?
What are the signs and symptoms of Thalassemia? The signs and symptoms vary depending on the severity of the thalassemia. For example, people affected by milder forms of thalassemia can develop mild anemia or may have no signs or symptoms of the condition at all. Intermediate forms of thalassemia can cause mild to moderate anemia and may be associated with other health problems such as slowed growth, delayed puberty, bone problems and/or an enlarged spleen. In addition to the signs and symptoms seen in intermediate thalassemia, people with severe forms of thalassemia may also experience severe anemia, poor appetite, paleness, dark urine, yellow discoloration of skin (jaundice), and enlarged liver or heart. For more information on the signs and symptoms by type of thalassemia, please click here. The Human Phenotype Ontology provides the following list of signs and symptoms for Thalassemia. If the information is available, the table below includes how often the symptom is seen in people with this condition. You can use the MedlinePlus Medical Dictionary to look up the definitions for these medical terms. Signs and Symptoms Approximate number of patients (when available) Abnormality of the heme biosynthetic pathway 90% Abnormality of immune system physiology 7.5% Biliary tract abnormality 7.5% Cognitive impairment 7.5% Hemolytic anemia 7.5% Hydrops fetalis 7.5% Hypersplenism 7.5% Myelodysplasia 7.5% Splenomegaly 7.5% Hypochromic microcytic anemia - Reduced alpha/beta synthesis ratio - The Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) has collected information on how often a sign or symptom occurs in a condition. Much of this information comes from Orphanet, a European rare disease database. The frequency of a sign or symptom is usually listed as a rough estimate of the percentage of patients who have that feature. The frequency may also be listed as a fraction. The first number of the fraction is how many people had the symptom, and the second number is the total number of people who were examined in one study. For example, a frequency of 25/25 means that in a study of 25 people all patients were found to have that symptom. Because these frequencies are based on a specific study, the fractions may be different if another group of patients are examined. Sometimes, no information on frequency is available. In these cases, the sign or symptom may be rare or common.