Can thalassemia patients have children?

[jolly55]

I am asking this because my friend who has thalassemia is going to get married. Can thalassemia patients have children since the disease is inherited? How likely the child can be affacted if one of the parents is thalassemic? Thanks

[caraiti]

Yes they can have children depending on what other medical issues they may have.

From my readings, there have been new possibilities opened up fro Thalassaemics. Yes, they can have children. Obviously risks will be there.. but those risks are no different from any other normal pregnancies..
If they are in good health.. with proper Hb levels.. proper iron levels... then the problems are lessen.
But one has to see a high risk OBG.. who will work together with your Hematologist...

In regards to the heritary aspect, again this depends on whether you are a minor, intermedia or major.

If they are a minor, then they have a 50% chance of having a baby with Thal trait and a 50% chance of having a baby with no affected genes.

If they have Intermedia or Major then the baby will inherit the gene depending on the parent's severity.

I have based this from only one parent being affected and the other parent being cleared of the gene.

You can check out Thalpal.com
It is a website that has Thalassaemic patients, their friends and families go to ask questions and/or give advice. You will find many topics and disscussions covered that relate to Thalassaemia.

Congradulations to your friend for her up and coming wedding.
I wish her the best.

[jolly55]

Thanks for your answer!

[drbalo]

Well answered caraiti!!

It all depends on the type of thalassemia!

beta-Thalassemia is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder i.e. one needs to have both abnormal genes to develop the disease. Each person has two copies of the beta gene, one inherited from each parent. Beta thalassemia results when both copies of the beta gene are abnormal. A person with only one abnormal copy of the beta gene does not develop the disease but is a carrier of beta thalassemia. When two carriers of beta thalassemia have children, each child has a 25 percent chance of inheriting two abnormal copies of the beta gene and, therefore, developing the disease. Each child has a 50 percent chance of inheriting one abnormal gene and being a carrier, and a 25 percent chance of inheriting two normal beta genes.

The inheritance of alpha thalassemia is more complicated because each person normally has four copies of the alpha gene, two inherited from each parent. People with one or two abnormal alpha genes are carriers and do not develop the disease. Children who inherit three abnormal alpha genes have a form of alpha thalassemia that makes them anemic but typically does not shorten their life span. Those who inherit four abnormal alpha genes have a severe form of alpha thalassemia that results in death in the womb or within the first few hours of life.

I hope this answers you.

[caraiti]

Thank you for your information.
I tend to get tongue tied when it comes to the technical side so I try to keep it simple.