Authors: Abid M.Z.U , Hassnain S , Ali S.M , Altaf Z , Khalid M.U , Tariq S ,

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Thalassemia is an autosomal recessive disorder. In Pakistan, there are about ten million patients of Thalassemia Minor and if both parents are carriers there are about 25% chances of having Thalassemia Major child. This study was conducted to find the prevalence of hepatitis B and C in thalassemia major patients and also to assess the awareness of disease in their parents.
Methods: This study was cross sectional study with probability cluster random sampling having a sampling size of 95. Four thalassemia centers were selected. Data was collected using structured questionnaire after informed consent. SPSS version 22 was used to analyze the data.
Results: The result of study showed 57.9% parents of thalassemia patients had knowledge of transfusion transmitted infections (TTI). Only 71.6% screened their blood before transfusion. Only 66.3% patients were able to manage the cost of treatment by their own.
Conclusion: Despite of screening practice still significant proportion of recipients had developed Hepatitis B & C infection. But in this study prevalence of Hepatitis C is significantly higher than Hepatitis B. It is therefore imperative to use sero assays in screening and awareness should be made regarding screening.

Keywords: Thalassemia, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Screening, Parents, Awareness.