Tuesday, March 23, 2010
African American children with sickle cell disease are at high risk of intellectual disabilities, hearing and vision deficits and frequent severe headaches, federal researchers said.
Children with the inherited disease are at least four times as likely as similar children without it to have fair or poor health status, twice as likely to have recently visited a mental health professional and more likely to have received special educational services, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The results are not surprising to physicians treating the problem in children, but they do document what many had suspected. Sickle cell disease, which affects about one in every 350 black children, is a genetic disorder that causes red blood cells to assume a sickle shape under stress, clogging blood vessels and producing episodes of excruciating pain, called crises.
Two-thirds of patients have some type of blood vessel problem in the brain by the time they are 20, and 15% have severe strokes. The only effective medication is hydroxyurea, which reduces crises by 50% and mortality by 40%. But most adults are not treated. As a result, the median age of death for sickle cell patients is now 39, down from 42 in 1995.
In the new study, epidemiologist used data from a national survey to identify 192 black children with sickle cell disease and 19,335 healthy black children.
The team found that children with the disorder were seven times more likely to suffer anemia the defining condition of the disease 50% more likely to suffer hay fever, 80% more likely to have food allergies, 120% more likely to have frequent diarrhea, 150% more likely to have headaches and migraines, 160% more likely to have hearing problems, and 230% more likely to have some intellectual disability.
Some of the parents who said their children had sickle cell anemia were incorrect, and that their children actually had sickle cell trait a more common, less severe condition in which the child carries only one copy of the sickle gene.
Living With Sickle Cell Anemia
You can't prevent sickle cell anemia because it's an inherited disease. However, you can take steps to reduce its complications.
With good health care, many people who have sickle cell anemia can live productive lives. They also can have reasonably good health much of the time and live longer today than in the past. Many people who have sickle cell anemia now live into their forties or fifties, or longer.
If you have sickle cell anemia, it's important to:
Children with the inherited disease are at least four times as likely as similar children without it to have fair or poor health status, twice as likely to have recently visited a mental health professional and more likely to have received special educational services, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The results are not surprising to physicians treating the problem in children, but they do document what many had suspected. Sickle cell disease, which affects about one in every 350 black children, is a genetic disorder that causes red blood cells to assume a sickle shape under stress, clogging blood vessels and producing episodes of excruciating pain, called crises.
Two-thirds of patients have some type of blood vessel problem in the brain by the time they are 20, and 15% have severe strokes. The only effective medication is hydroxyurea, which reduces crises by 50% and mortality by 40%. But most adults are not treated. As a result, the median age of death for sickle cell patients is now 39, down from 42 in 1995.
In the new study, epidemiologist used data from a national survey to identify 192 black children with sickle cell disease and 19,335 healthy black children.
The team found that children with the disorder were seven times more likely to suffer anemia the defining condition of the disease 50% more likely to suffer hay fever, 80% more likely to have food allergies, 120% more likely to have frequent diarrhea, 150% more likely to have headaches and migraines, 160% more likely to have hearing problems, and 230% more likely to have some intellectual disability.
Some of the parents who said their children had sickle cell anemia were incorrect, and that their children actually had sickle cell trait a more common, less severe condition in which the child carries only one copy of the sickle gene.
Living With Sickle Cell Anemia
You can't prevent sickle cell anemia because it's an inherited disease. However, you can take steps to reduce its complications.
With good health care, many people who have sickle cell anemia can live productive lives. They also can have reasonably good health much of the time and live longer today than in the past. Many people who have sickle cell anemia now live into their forties or fifties, or longer.
If you have sickle cell anemia, it's important to:
- Adopt or maintain a healthy lifestyle
- Take steps to prevent and control complications
- Learn ways to cope with pain
posted by emedinfo
@10:50 PM
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