Thalassemia can be passed on to children. This is because thalassemia is a genetic disorder in which the patient develops symptoms of hemolytic anemia due to genetic factors that cause genetic defects or deletions. Thalassemia inheritance is controlled by genes shared by both parents, which means that if one parent is thalassemic and the other is healthy, the child has a 50/50 chance of being thalassemic and a 50/50 chance of being normal. If both parents are thalassemic, the chances of the child developing this anemia are significantly higher and the chances of being a normal child are significantly lower. In particular, thalassemia minor and thalassemia intermedia may produce thalassemia major in the offspring, and sometimes the fetus may die in utero or within a few months after birth. Therefore, thalassemia has a huge impact on the offspring and requires careful premarital medical examination.