Introduction: Cardiac dysfunction, including cardiomyopathy and arrhythmia are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in thalassemic patients.
Aim of Work: The aim of this study is to evaluate 24 hours Holter monitoring for detection of early ECG changes in beta thalassemic children. Methods: This cross –sectional case control study was conducted at the Kafr Elsheikh Insurance health hospital from May 2020 to March 2021 on 45 thalassemic children. Patients age, s range from 2 to 17 years diagnosed as beta thalassemia major with regular blood transfusion .Childern in our study were taken by simple random sample. The control group consists of 45matched healthy children of the same gender and age.
Results: There was a statistically significant increase of Interventricular Septal end diastole (IVSD), Interventricular Septal end systole and Left Ventricular Posterior Wall end diastole (LVPWD) in thalassemic children as compared to controls. The minimum and average heart rate were significantly higher in thalassemic children vs the control and heart rate variability parameters in thalassemic patients were significantly lower in thalassemic children compared to the control. Atrial fibrillation was detected in 17.8% of thalassemic children compared to the control (0%).
Conclusion: The current study showed that left ventricular hypertrophy by was detected in thalassemic children compared to control, reduced heart rate variability parameters indicating autonomic dysfunction in those children.