Prevalence, Geographical Distribution, Social Problems and Treatment of Thalassemia Patients.
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Date
2012-06
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Abstract
A total of 700 beta thalassemia patients were gathered
at the outdoor of the Hematology department of Medical
College, Kolkata, attending during the period from January
2010 to December 2010. The data is generated by the
interaction between them and their family members in
presence of the physicians. Actual ethnic identities, place
of residence, parity and sibship together with social stigma,
if any, faced by the patient or by the member of the family
and details of their treatment including transfusion history
were noted down and reconfirmed from past records. The
prevalence of thalassemia was found 70% among Hindus
of which the 62.26% was contributed by castes like
Maishya, Namasudra, Barga Kshatriya and Panda Kshatriya.
The relative prevalence of subtypes of b-thalassemia was
found to be 65% E-b thalassemia, 30% Homozygous
b-thalassemia and 5% S-b thalassemia. The aboard of the
85.28% patients were found to be localised along banks
river Hooghly and Ganga delta region and we can thus
consider tentatively that this belt is a thalassemia zone in
West Bengal. The maximum number of cases showed parity
to be 1 and there was considerable amount of reproductive
wastage. Regarding social stigma, 82.71% responded with
no stigma. Early diagnosis and early onset of transfusion
with chelation therapy was found to provide benefit for the
patient reducing the total amount of transfusion needed per
year and also restoring the quality of their life.
Description
Keywords
ethnicity, thalassemia zone, social stigma, treatment
Citation
Basu Indranil, Mukhopadhyay Ananda Kumar, Ray Biman, Adhya Debasis. Prevalence, Geographical Distribution, Social Problems and Treatment of Thalassemia Patients. Indian Medical Gazette. 2012 Jun ; 145 (6): 214-219.