THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMPLIANCE WITH IRON ELECTRONIC THERAPY CUNSUMPTION AND QUALITY OF LIFE OF CHILDREN IN MAJOR THALASEMIAPATIENTS IN MAJALENGKA HOSPITAL

According to the World Bank, 7% of the world's population are carriers of
thalassemia traits. There are 10,973 cases of people with thalassemia in Indonesia in
June 2021 . West Java Province has the highest number of thalassemia sufferers, at the
end of 2019 there were 4,000 cases. The Chairperson of the Association of People with
Thalassemia Indonesia (POPTI) said that there were 145 cases of thalassemia in
Majalengka . In 2023 in May, 115 thalassemia sufferers were recorded as outpatients at
the Thalassemia Clinic at Majalengka Hospital . The purpose of this study was to
determine the relationship between adherence to consumption of iron chelation therapy
and quality of life of children in patients with thalassemia major at Majalengka General
Hospital.

This type of research is quantitative descriptive correlation with a cross-
sectional approach . The population in this study were children with thalassemia major

who were taking iron chelation therapy and aged 6-18 years. Sampling using porpusive
sampling technique totaling 53 respondents. The instruments used were the Malay
version of the MCQ questionnaire and PedsQL . Data analysis used the spearman rank
test . Place of research at Majalengka Hospital on 15 May 2023 -10 June 2023.
The results showed that more than half of the thalassemia children did not adhere
to taking iron chelation therapy (64.2%) and Emotional Function achieved the highest
score with an average of 72.64. Social function with an average of 68.49. Physical
function with an average of 51.12. and School/Academic Functions are the lowest with an
average of 46.58.. with a total score of 59.70 in the sense of poor quality of life. The
results of bivariate analysis using the Spearman rank test p value <α and r <1.00
significant relationship between adherence to consumption of iron calcium therapy with
physical function (0.00), emotional function (0.00), social function (0.00) , and
school/academic functions (0.01). With a moderate to strong positive correlation
direction which indicates that the higher the adherence to consumption of iron chelation
therapy, the better the quality of life of thalassemia children. (p value = 0.00 and 0.01, α
= 0.05, r = 0.531, 0.692, 0.596 and 0.460). For thalassemia nurses, this research can be
used as input to improve service quality in providing nursing care to thalassemia
children.