Abnormal Glucose Tolerance in Transfusion-Dependent β-Thalassemic Patients

Abnormal Glucose Tolerance in Transfusion-Dependent β-Thalassemic Patients Jimmy P.S. Chern , MD 1 , Kai-Hsin Lin , MD 2 , Meng-Yao Lu , MD 2 , Dong-Tsam Lin , MD 2 , Kuo-Sin Lin , MD, PHD 2 , Jong-Dar Chen , MD 1 and Cheng-Chung Fu , MD 1 1 Department of Family Medicine, Tao-Yuan Hospital, Department of Health, Tao-Yuan 2 Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China Abstract OBJECTIVE —To study the prevalence of and risk factors for abnormal glucose tolerance in transfusion-dependent β-thalassemic patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS —A total of 89 transfusion-dependent β-thalassemic patients were interviewed. Diabetes was previously diagnosed in 14 of them. In the remaining 75 patients, 68 participated in an oral glucose tolerance test. Potential risk factors were identified using the independent t test, χ 2 test, and Fisher’s exact test. Logistic regression analysis was used to select the independent risk factors that best predicted abnormal glucose tolerance. A two-tailed P value of