Abstract

Background: Thalassemia is an autosomal recessive disease. According to the WHO data, there are 269 million carriers of thalassemia worldwide, out of which 40 million are in South East Asia. Objectives:Thisstudywasconductedwiththeprimaryobjectivetoassessdemographicprofileofpatientswiththalassemia at a tertiary care hospital of Bhopal along with morbidity pattern in them and economic burden on the patient’s family.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, hospital-based study was carried out in the pediatric ward of Kamla Nehru Hospital of Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal. Information regarding the patient’s sociodemographic profile, morbidity pattern, economic burden, and other relevant aspects was collected on a predesigned and pretested proforma from the parents or attendant of all the patients who visited the clinic or were admitted in Kamla Nehru Hospital during July 2014 to December 2014.
Results: During the study period, 180 children with thalassemia were identified. Of them, 61.7% were males and 38.3% were females, and 56.7% were diagnosed for thalassemia within first 6 months of age. Religion-wise distribution shows maximumcases134(74.4%)wereHindusfollowedby37(20.5%)Muslims,and9(5.0%)others.Childrenwiththalassemia showed a higher frequency of illness as compared to their sibling with negative thalassemia history. Conclusion:ThisstudyisthefirstofitskindinthesettingofcentralIndia,andtheresultsofthisstudywillleadtoincreased awareness about the different aspects of thalassemia.