Underweight or low body mass index (BMI) is associated with developing many health problems. Despite the presence of many growth abnormalities in patients with beta thalassemia major, BMI has not been adequately studied. All of the thalassemic patients under 18 years of age, registered in thalassemia center of Shiraz, were studied. Medical history was taken and complete physical examination was done. BMI (weight/height2) at different ages was calculated and compared with standardized percentile

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... curves of BMI for children and adolescents. BMI less than 10th percentile for sex and age was observed in 12.4% of thalassemic patients under 10 years of age and in 46.5% of patients above 10 years of age (p< 0.000001). Also the observed difference between girls and boys, specially when they are more than 10 years of age is significant (p< 0.000001). Underweight is a common finding in patients with beta-thalassemia major specially when they are older than 10 years of age. This is possibly because of the occurrence of multiple endocrinopathies and also the presence of under-nutrition in these patients. So growth should be monitored routinely at regular intervals in order to detect any decline in growth velocity and also any derangement in BMI to establish an appropriate protocol for investigation and treatment.