Foong WC, Ho JJ, Loh CK, Viprakasit V. Hydroxyurea for reducing blood transfusion in non-transfusion dependent beta thalassaemias. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016 Oct 18;10:CD011579.

Foong et al, reported in Cochrane Database Systemic Reviews that in non-transfusion dependent beta thalassaemia patients there was no evidence from randomised controlled trials to show whether hydroxyurea was effective compared to controls on the transfusion requirements. On the other hand, administration of 10 mg/kg/day compared to 20 mg/kg/day of hydroxyurea resulted in higher haemoglobin levels with fewer adverse effects. The authors pointed the need for large well-designed randomised controlled trials with sufficient duration of follow-up.