Assessment of Dietary Behavior of Children Aged between 3-12 Years Suffering from Thalassemia Visiting Tertiary Care Hospitals, Lahore

Thalassemia is a hereditary blood disorder passed down through families in which the body makeshemoglobin in an abnormal form. Nutritional deficiencies in thalassemia children results in anemia andother medical complications. Objective: To assess dietary behavior of children aged between 3-12 yearssuffering from thalassemia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in the outdoor patientdepartment of thalassemia at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore for 4 months.100 patients were selectedthrough non probability sampling technique. Data was tabulated and analyzed by SPSS version 21.0.Results: Thalassemia was more prevalent in the age group of 8-12 years. Nutritional deficiencies inthalassemia patients caused anemia as it was evident from results that 74% of thalassemic children hadpale skin. As far as dietary intake was concerned only 4% of thalassemia children were consuming meatand meat products.58% of thalassemia children consumed milk on daily basis. Only 8% took green leafyvegetables on daily basis as it contains high amount of iron. Micro nutrient deficiencies as vitamin A, Cwere common among thalassemia patients as only 30% were consuming fruits on daily basis.Conclusions: Most of the thalassemiacchildren were found to be malnourished due to inadequatedietary intake. The caregivers and parents should be counseled to create awareness