Background: B-thalassemia carrier state or thalassemia minor confers cardiovascular protection through favorable lipidemic and blood pressure profile. However, its impact on inflammatory status-a common denominator of the above conditions-has not been addressed.
Methods: We investigated a wide range of inflammatory markers [white blood cell (WBC) count, homocysteine, C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA), fibrinogen, plasminogen, fibronectin, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), and uric acid] in a large cohort of 15 805 newly diagnosed hypertensive patients (8299 men, 7506 women); 626 of them (4.0%) had thalassemia minor.
Results: The levels of WBC, homocysteine, CRP, SAA, fibrinogen, and PAI-1 were significantly lower in thalassemia minor patients, but not of plasminogen, fibronectin, and uric acid. In multivariate linear regression analyses, the lower values of WBC (<0.001), CRP (<0.001), homocysteine (<0.001), fibrinogen (<0.001), and PAI-1 (0.008), but not of SAA, were independently associated with thalassemia minor. The interaction between thalassemia minor and body mass index had a significant impact only on WBC and CRP (P for the interaction 0.010 and 0.005, respectively), whereas the interaction between thalassemia minor and sex had a significant impact only on fibrinogen (P for the interaction 0.007).
Conclusion: Thalassemia minor is followed by a favorable inflammatory profile that may contribute to the overall better cardiovascular health of the carriers.