Background: Β-thalassemia a common hematological disorder in Nineveh Governorate; however, survival status was not formerly assessed.

Aim: To determine the survival rate and causes of death in patients with β- thalassemia major in Nineveh Governorate. Iraq.

Methods: This is a retrospective study involving 718 registered patients with β -thalassemia major in Ibn- Al Atheer center of thalassemia in Mosul city, northern of Iraq, during 17-year period from 1997 to 2014. Each patient was studied from the date of birth to the date of terminal follow-up of this study at 31/12/2014. Documented demographic, clinical and laboratory data were extracted from patients’ medical records. Statistical analysis performed using Kaplan-Meier method to analyze survivals.

Results: There were 160(22.3%) deaths among locally registered patients with β -thalassemia major, 130 (81.4%) of them were due to cardiac causes. The median survival time was 16.15 year. Kaplan-Meier survival curves of enrolled patients showed that 5-, 10-, 15-, 20-,25-,30-,35, 40-,45-year survival rate was 98.7%, 95.1%, 81.6%, 61.6% ,49.8% 44.4%, 42.2% .42.1% and 36.9% respectively.

Conclusions: At age of 25 years, 49.8% of local thalassemia patients survived. Heart disease was the most common cause of death among studied patients with β- thalassemia major.

Keywords: Thalassemia, survival, mortality, Mosul. Iraq