The close relationship between Sickle Cell Anemia and Thalassemia, makes one wonder, by lowering iron, as they show in Sickle Cell, and their improved health, might this outcome, improved health, be realised in Thalassemia, too?
"similar hematologic and clinical improvements in 13 Greek patients, most of them affected by Hb S/β thalassemia"
"In several case reports of patients affected by SCA, Castro et al showed that iron deficiency decreased hemolysis (lower serum bilirubin and lactate dehydrogenase and lower reticulocyte counts), reduced the fraction of dense cells, and improved RBC survival.4-6 Clinical improvement was also described with iron deficiency and worsening of symptoms with iron replacement therapy. Rombos et al7 showed similar hematologic and clinical improvements in 13 Greek patients, most of them affected by Hb S/β thalassemia. In a large retrospective study in patients with Hb SC disease, Lionnet et al8 showed measurable, but uncontrolled, clinical improvements in 71% of patients treated with regular phlebotomies. More recent studies have also highlighted a connection between nocturnal hypoxia and higher iron availability (estimated from transferrin saturation), again suggesting the deleterious effect of iron on SCD, although the investigators of this study did not invoke the mechanisms described above.9"
https://ashpublications.org/blood/article/137/11/1446/475493