Cargando…

Perception to Hydroxyurea Therapy in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: Report from 3 Centers

BACKGROUND: Hydroxyurea (HU) is an hemoglobin F inducing agent used in the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD). AIM: The aim of this study is to determine the perception of HU by people living with SCD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A pretested questionnaire was self-administered to known cases of SCD a...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Korubo, Kaladada I., Onodingene, Nkemsinachi Maryanne, Okoye, Helen Chioma, Omunakwe, Hannah E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Wolters Kluwer - Medknow 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8378460/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34213480
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/aam.aam_36_20
_version_ 1783740836002922496
author Korubo, Kaladada I.
Onodingene, Nkemsinachi Maryanne
Okoye, Helen Chioma
Omunakwe, Hannah E.
author_facet Korubo, Kaladada I.
Onodingene, Nkemsinachi Maryanne
Okoye, Helen Chioma
Omunakwe, Hannah E.
author_sort Korubo, Kaladada I.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Hydroxyurea (HU) is an hemoglobin F inducing agent used in the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD). AIM: The aim of this study is to determine the perception of HU by people living with SCD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A pretested questionnaire was self-administered to known cases of SCD attending pediatrics and adult hematology clinics in three participating centers. Mothers of children <18 years responded on their behalf. RESULTS: There were 101 responders, 49 (48.5%) males and 52 (51.5%) females, of which 24 (23.8%) were children <18 years and 77 (76.2%) were adults. The majority (n = 73, 72.3%) knew their phenotype. Up to 63 (62.4%) had crises in the past 3 months. Only 35 (34.7%) had heard of HU, many through their doctor (n = 16, 45.7%), 8 (22.9%) through online resources, and 7 (20%) from friends. Only 12 (11.9%) had been exposed to HU therapy, of which 5 (41.7%) had discontinued therapy mostly due to side effects (n = 2, 40%). The seven patients (58.3%) on continuous HU therapy for a duration of 6 months to over 5 years, all reported reduced hospital admissions and frequency of crises as benefits of the drug, whereas 4 (57.1%) had stopped requiring blood transfusion since starting therapy. Of those who had never taken HU, 53 (52.5%) believed that HU should be used in treating SCD and majority (n = 32, 60.4%) would want to be commenced on the drug. However, 8 (15.1%) would decline therapy (mostly due to perceived associated side effects; n = 4; 50%). Six (11.3%) were unsure if they would want the drug and 7 (13.2%) would have to discuss the decision first with their family. There were 8 (8.9%) responders who did not think HU will be beneficial in SCD and would decline treatment, while 26 (29.2%) were unsure of both the benefits of the drug or of commencing therapy. CONCLUSION: The findings from this study suggest that HU is beneficial for patients with SCD; however, the awareness of this medication among SCD patients is still low in our environment. Some SCD patients would decline the use of HU due to perceived side effects. We recommend that more awareness on HU be created and coordinated multi-center studies on the efficacy of HU in the Nigerian population be carried out.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8378460
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Wolters Kluwer - Medknow
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-83784602021-09-01 Perception to Hydroxyurea Therapy in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: Report from 3 Centers Korubo, Kaladada I. Onodingene, Nkemsinachi Maryanne Okoye, Helen Chioma Omunakwe, Hannah E. Ann Afr Med Original Article BACKGROUND: Hydroxyurea (HU) is an hemoglobin F inducing agent used in the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD). AIM: The aim of this study is to determine the perception of HU by people living with SCD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A pretested questionnaire was self-administered to known cases of SCD attending pediatrics and adult hematology clinics in three participating centers. Mothers of children <18 years responded on their behalf. RESULTS: There were 101 responders, 49 (48.5%) males and 52 (51.5%) females, of which 24 (23.8%) were children <18 years and 77 (76.2%) were adults. The majority (n = 73, 72.3%) knew their phenotype. Up to 63 (62.4%) had crises in the past 3 months. Only 35 (34.7%) had heard of HU, many through their doctor (n = 16, 45.7%), 8 (22.9%) through online resources, and 7 (20%) from friends. Only 12 (11.9%) had been exposed to HU therapy, of which 5 (41.7%) had discontinued therapy mostly due to side effects (n = 2, 40%). The seven patients (58.3%) on continuous HU therapy for a duration of 6 months to over 5 years, all reported reduced hospital admissions and frequency of crises as benefits of the drug, whereas 4 (57.1%) had stopped requiring blood transfusion since starting therapy. Of those who had never taken HU, 53 (52.5%) believed that HU should be used in treating SCD and majority (n = 32, 60.4%) would want to be commenced on the drug. However, 8 (15.1%) would decline therapy (mostly due to perceived associated side effects; n = 4; 50%). Six (11.3%) were unsure if they would want the drug and 7 (13.2%) would have to discuss the decision first with their family. There were 8 (8.9%) responders who did not think HU will be beneficial in SCD and would decline treatment, while 26 (29.2%) were unsure of both the benefits of the drug or of commencing therapy. CONCLUSION: The findings from this study suggest that HU is beneficial for patients with SCD; however, the awareness of this medication among SCD patients is still low in our environment. Some SCD patients would decline the use of HU due to perceived side effects. We recommend that more awareness on HU be created and coordinated multi-center studies on the efficacy of HU in the Nigerian population be carried out. Wolters Kluwer - Medknow 2021 2021-06-30 /pmc/articles/PMC8378460/ /pubmed/34213480 http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/aam.aam_36_20 Text en Copyright: © 2021 Annals of African Medicine https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
spellingShingle Original Article
Korubo, Kaladada I.
Onodingene, Nkemsinachi Maryanne
Okoye, Helen Chioma
Omunakwe, Hannah E.
Perception to Hydroxyurea Therapy in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: Report from 3 Centers
title Perception to Hydroxyurea Therapy in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: Report from 3 Centers
title_full Perception to Hydroxyurea Therapy in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: Report from 3 Centers
title_fullStr Perception to Hydroxyurea Therapy in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: Report from 3 Centers
title_full_unstemmed Perception to Hydroxyurea Therapy in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: Report from 3 Centers
title_short Perception to Hydroxyurea Therapy in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: Report from 3 Centers
title_sort perception to hydroxyurea therapy in patients with sickle cell disease: report from 3 centers
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8378460/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34213480
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/aam.aam_36_20
work_keys_str_mv AT korubokaladadai perceptiontohydroxyureatherapyinpatientswithsicklecelldiseasereportfrom3centers
AT onodingenenkemsinachimaryanne perceptiontohydroxyureatherapyinpatientswithsicklecelldiseasereportfrom3centers
AT okoyehelenchioma perceptiontohydroxyureatherapyinpatientswithsicklecelldiseasereportfrom3centers
AT omunakwehannahe perceptiontohydroxyureatherapyinpatientswithsicklecelldiseasereportfrom3centers