TABLE 1.
Characteristics of the included studies.
| Authors | Year | Country | Design | Disease | Population | F/U, month (range) | Age, year (range) | N (M/F) | Intervention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chen | 2017 | China | Retrospective study | β-TM | NTDT and TDT | 12 | 24 (13–74) | 9 (5/4) | Thalidomide (the dose started at 50 mg/d and increased to 200 mg/d as tolerated) |
| Li | 2018 | China | Prospective study | β-TM | NTDT and TDT | TDT: > 6 NTDT: > 3 | 29.4 (25–35) | 7 (4/3) | Thalidomide (the dose was 50 mg/d) |
| Ren | 2018 | China | Prospective study | β-TM | NTDT | 3 | 25.6 (18–36) | 14 (8/6) | Thalidomide (the dose was 50 mg/d) |
| Jain | 2019 | India | Prospective study | HbE-β-TM | NTDT | 6 | 27 (7–45) | 15 (8/7) | Thalidomide (the dose was 50 mg/d) |
| Yassin | 2020 | Iraq | Prospective study | β-TM | NTDT and TDT | 8–36 (15) | 9 (3–43) | 37 (21/16) | Thalidomide (the dose was 2–10 mg/kg/d, and a initial dose of 3 mg/kg/d adjusted to nearest 50 mg/d was used) |
| Nag | 2020 | India | Retrospective study | HbE-β-TM | TDT | 3 | 20 | 21 (7/14) | Thalidomide (age ≤12Y: the dose was 50 mg/d; age >12Y: the dose was 100 mg/d) |
| Islam | 2020 | Bangladesh | Retrospective study | HbE-β-TM | TDT | 16 (3–38) | 15 (3–49) | 50 (26/24) | Thalidomide (the dose was 50–100 mg/d) |
| Begum | 2020 | Bangladesh | Prospective study | HbE-β-TM | TDT | 32 | 10 (3–24) | 51 (28/23) | Thalidomide (the dose was 2–5 mg/kg/d) |
| Sen | 2020 | India | Prospective study | HbE-β-TM and β-TM | NTDT and TDT | 3–11 (7.1 ± 3.3) | 15 (2–44) | 9 (6/3) | Thalidomide (the dose was 50 mg/d) |
| Yang | 2020 | China | Prospective study | β-TM | NTDT and TDT | 3–37 | 27.2 (15–45) | 62 (27/35) | Thalidomide (the initial dose was 50 mg/d, and dose of 100 mg/d was given to patients needing blood transfusions at least twice a month) |
| Li | 2021 | China | Retrospective study | β-TM | TDT | (14.6 ± 9.6)≥6 | 10 (5–18) | 77 (45/32) | Thalidomide (the dose was 2.5–4 mg/kg/d) |
| Chen | 2021 | China | Prospective study | β-TM | TDT | ≥3 | 18.4 | 99 (62/37) | Thalidomide (initial dose of 100 mg/d and escalated to 150 mg/d in 3 days if no adverse effects were reported) |
F/U, follow-up; M/F, male/female; N, sample size; Y, year; TM, thalassemia; NTDT, non-transfusion-dependent thalassemia, TDT, transfusion-dependent thalassemia.