Study Shows Outcomes of COVID-19 Infection in Italian Patients with Thalassemia
June 16, 2020 – Dr. Maria-Domenica Cappellini of the University of Milan, Italy, recently presented the following data showing the outcomes of COVID-19 infection in a cohort of 11 patients with thalassemia from Northern Italy. These 11 Italian thalassemia patients experienced relatively mild to moderate COVID-19 disease. All the patients had thalassemia-related comorbidities. 53.5% of the patients were hospitalized, but none required an ICU stay. Splenectomy did not affect the patients’ clinical course of COVID-19 illness. The number of infected thalassemia patients was lower than expected, likely due to earlier and more vigilant self-isolation compared to the general population.
