Prevalence of Thalasemia in Mirwais Regional Hospital (MRH) Pediatric Ward

Abstract

Background: Thalassemia is a common, monogenetic, inherited blood disease. It is prevalent in the Kandahar province in Afghanistan due to consanguineous marriage. In the present study, we would like to determine the prevalence of thalassemia among the children admitted to the Mirwais Regional Hospital pediatric ward with severe anemia.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of thalassemia in the Mirwais Regional Hospital pediatric ward.

Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Mirwais Regional Hospital Pediatric Ward Kandahar, Afghanistan, from January 2019 to July 2019. Blood samples were collected from suspected severe anemic patients in a 5ml vacutainer and sent for a complete blood count examination and confirmation with hemoglobin electrophoresis. A questionnaire collected detailed information on diagnosed patients with thalassemia.

Results: The total number of patients admitted to the pediatric ward during six months (Jan 2019 to July 2019) was 29642.  One hundred thirty-one were diagnosed with thalassemia, and the prevalence rate of thalassemia in the pediatric ward was 0.44%. Of 131 patients, 55.73% were male, and 44.2% were female. The mean age of thalassemic children was 33.82(SD±37.682) months. Out of 131 patients, 83.97%were within the range of 4 months to 5 years. Hemoglobin levels varied from 1.8 mg/dl to 10.6mg/dl with an average of (5.491SD±1.97) mg/dl.

Regarding the severity of anemia, 78.6% had severe, 16% had moderate, and 5.3% had mild anemia. The rate of Consanguineous marriage between parents of thalassemic children was 57.3%.

 Conclusion: The prevalence of thalassemia is 0.44% in the pediatric ward. This means that out of ten thousand patients who attended the pediatric ward, 44 were newly diagnosed with thalassemia. Since thalassemia is the most common monogenetic inheritor disease and leads to fatal complications, the data obtained from this study can be used by public health authorities to prepare policies for reducing the burden of the disease and providing treatment and support to people already suffering from it.