how often does thal minor worsen?

I initially read that thal minor patients might just be a little bit anemic and have smaller blood cells.
Life expectancy was supposedly not affected by thal minor.

But I have been hearing about some cases where people were healthy as young adults but whose health worsened as they got older.  Sometimes this meant having to start transfusions as they got older, even though they were health when they were younger.

Does anyone know if this is common?  Is it possible these people were not Thal Majors to begin with rather than Minors?  Thank you.

There is no evidence that thal minor shortens life expectancy. In fact, thal minors tend to have less heart disease. However some minors do get more health issues as they age, but not of a life-threatening variety. It is more quality of life issues that some thal minors experience, with tiredness and fatigue being the most common symptoms. Transfusions in thal minors are very rare and almost exclusively found in pregnant women whose Hb has dropped too low. Proper doses of folic acid during pregnancy can lessen the chances of this occurring. As a rule, the only time thal minors need transfusions outside of pregnancy is when they have a dominant beta thal mutation, which is quite unusual.