Prevalence of psychiatric disorders, depression, and suicidal behavior in child and adolescent with thalassemia major

PURPOSE: To study the rate of psychiatric disorder and suicidal behavior in children with thalassemia major. METHOD: One hundred ten subjects with thalassemia major were interviewed according to the K-SADS Farsi version by face-to-face interview. RESULT: The most common psychiatric disorders were major depressive disorder and separation anxiety disorder. The rate of oppositional defiant disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and bipolar mood disorder were 3.6%, 1.8%, and 0.9%, respectively. About 49% suffered from depressed mood and 62.7% suffered from irritability and anger. More than 43% of them had recurrent thought of death and 27.3% considered suicide in the last year. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of psychiatric disorders was very low than that in the prior studies and the most common was major depressive disorder. However, the rate of psychiatric symptoms was very common. The rate of suicidal behavior was not more than that in the general population.