Family Screening of Thalassemic Patients and Effectiveness of Education in Providing Knowledge about Prevention of Thalassemia

Authors

  • Rameez Iqbal, Sidrah, Asfahan Akhtar, Kiran Memon, Muhammad Rahil Khan, Muhammad Anique, Kiran Aamir, Aamir Ramzan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53350/pjmhs2023176253

Abstract

Objective: To identify the carriers in the families of Beta Thalassemia patients and to determine the effectiveness of education about the prevention of thalassemia.

Methods: The Observational - Cross-Sectional study was carried out in 6 months from 01-09-2021 to 31-03-2022 on a sample of 73 thalassemia patients and their families, after taking informed written consent. This study was conducted via non-probability, convenient sampling and was carried out at the Department of Pathology & Diagnostic and Research Laboratory - LUMHS Hyderabad/Jamshoro. The data was analyzed via SPSS 21.0

Results: The mean age of patients was found to be 17.34 + 7.32 years. 52% of participants were males with mean age of 15.23 + 9.67 years and 48% participants were females with mean age of 13.48 + 5.7 years. Most of the patients were having fortnightly blood transfusion i.e. 42.8% followed by 32.9% patients with monthly transfusion. Bi-monthly transfusion were found to be least reported. Consanguineous marriage among parents was found in 87.70% of patients. Hb electrophoresis pattern among siblings of thalassemia patients showed 4.1% occurrence of thalassemia major and 32.8% occurrence of thalassemia minor while 63% patients were found to be having normal electrophoresis pattern. The mean hemoglobin was found to be 09.23 + 3.65 mg/dl among siblings of thalassemia patients with 63.86 + 8.41 mg/dl mean MCV.

Conclusion: The study found out that the around 2/3rd of the families were having positive history of thalassemia with around 1/4th of the patients had history of blood transfusion. The educational session was found to effective in improving the knowledge regarding the thalassemia.

Keywords: Thalassemia, carriers, family history, effectiveness of educational awareness

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How to Cite

Rameez Iqbal, Sidrah, Asfahan Akhtar, Kiran Memon, Muhammad Rahil Khan, Muhammad Anique, Kiran Aamir, Aamir Ramzan. (2023). Family Screening of Thalassemic Patients and Effectiveness of Education in Providing Knowledge about Prevention of Thalassemia. Pakistan Journal of Medical & Health Sciences, 17(06), 253. https://doi.org/10.53350/pjmhs2023176253