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Review
. 2017 Fall;8(4):239-249.
doi: 10.22088/cjim.8.4.239.

Hearing loss in Iranian thalassemia major patients treated with deferoxamine: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Gholamreza Badfar  1 , Akram Mansouri  2 , Masoumeh Shohani  3 , Hamid Karimi  4 , Zahra Khalighi  5 , Shoboo Rahmati  6 , Ali Delpisheh  7 , Yousef Veisani  8 , Ali Soleymani  9 , Milad Azami  9
Affiliations
Review

Hearing loss in Iranian thalassemia major patients treated with deferoxamine: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Gholamreza Badfar et al. Caspian J Intern Med. 2017 Fall.

Abstract

Background: Hearing disorders are reported in thalassemia patients treated with deferoxamine. This study aimed to assess hearing loss in Iranian thalassemia major patients treated with deferoxamine.

Methods: This review article was designed based on PRISMA guidelines. To review the literature, two researchers studied national and international databases including Iranmedex, Magiran, Medlib, SID, Scopus, PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Science and Google Scholar without time limit until May 2017. Cochran's Q test and I2 index were used to assess the heterogeneity of the studies. The data were analyzed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software version 2 and p<0.05 was considered significant.

Results: A total of 17 articles involving 1,835 Iranian thalassemia major patients treated with deferoxamine were included in the meta-analysis. The overall prevalence of hearing loss was estimated 27.3% (95% confidence intervals (CI): 19-37.6). The prevalence of sensorineural, conductive and mixed hearing loss was estimated 10.6% (95% CI: 5.7-18.8), 14.6% (95% CI: 10.5-20.6) and 9.1% (95% CI: 5.6-14.6), respectively. No significant differences were noted regarding the relationship hearing loss and mean serum ferritin (P=0.29) and average daily deferoxamine (P=0.30). Meta-regression model showed an increased significance in the prevalence of hearing loss based on the year of studies (p<0.0001).

Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of hearing loss in Iranian thalassemia major patients treated with deferoxamine. Therefore, periodic hearing assessments and regular check-ups after the initiation of chelation therapy are necessary.

Keywords: Deferoxamine; Hearing loss; Iran; Meta-analysis; Systematic review; Thalassemia major.

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Figures

Figure1
Figure1
A flowchart of the literature searches for the systematic review of studies
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevalence of hearing loss in Iranian thalassemia major patients treated with deferoxamine. Random effects model.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Subgroup analysis of hearing loss prevalence based on thresholds of sound intensity in Iranian thalassemia major patients treated with deferoxamine. Random effects model
Figure 4
Figure 4
Geographical distribution of prevalence of hearing loss in Iranian thalassemia major patients treated with deferoxamine
Figure 5
Figure 5
Prevalence of sensorineural (A), conductive (B) and mixed (C) hearing loss in Iranian thalassemia major patients treated with deferoxamine. Random effects model
Figure 6
Figure 6
The the standardized mean difference for the mean serum ferritin (A) and average daily deferoxamine use (B) in Iranian thalassemia major patients treated with deferoxamine. Fixed effects model
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Meta-regression between the prevalence of overall (A), sensorineural (B) and conductive (C) hearing loss in Iranian patients with thalassemia major and year of studies. Larger circles indicate the larger sample size
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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