Indian Journal of Health and Wellbeing

Aparna Singh ¹, B. D. Bhatia ¹, S. K. Upadhyay ¹, Vineeta Gupta ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Pediatrics, Institute of Medical Sciences, B.H.U., Varanasi, IN

Abstract

Thalassemia has become a worldwide clinical problem due to increasing immigration of ethnic groups with high prevalence of thalassemia. 30 million people carry thalassemia gene in the world of which approximately 15 million alone are in India. The carrier rate varies from 3 - 17 % in different ethnic groups. Over the past three decades, better medical facilities, regular blood transfusions and iron chelation have improved the quality of life of children with thalassemia and converted it from fatal to chronic disease with prolonged life. Thalassemia is an inherited autosomal recessive blood disease which is characterized by an imbalance in the production of alpha and beta polypeptide chains of haemoglobin. The goal of medical care is not only to achieve long term survival but also to achieve the best possible psychological, social and spiritual wellbeing. With increased life expectancy of these patients, complications keep arising such as transfusion related infections, allosensitization, iron- overload related cardiac, endocrine and liver disturbances, toxicities of iron chelators, hepatic involvement, neurological complications and psychological manifestations. These can manifest as anxiety, nervousness, irritability, demanding a lot of attention, depression, etc. in the child. This paper emphasizes the fact that these children may require something more than simple medical management and also psychological support. In short, beta thalassemia has a spectrum of varied manifestations and complications. We need to develop preventive strategies like pre- marital screening, genetic counselling, ante- natal diagnosis and educational programs for awareness. Apart from early diagnosis, there is also a need to increase medical facilities which is a great challenge facing India .This paper gives a brief overview of the disease and focuses on the behaviour of children with thalassemia. We have described their psychological symptoms and strongly recommend psychological interv

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Aparna Singh ¹, S. K. Upadhyay ¹, Vineeta Gupta ²

Affiliations
1 Department of Pediatrics, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, IN
2 Department of Pediatrics, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221 005, Uttar Pradesh, IN

Abstract

There was a constant and variable increase in asthma prevalence worldwide in the last two decades, and the same is being observed in India. The reasons are multi-factorial, but a neglected area is the psychological aspects. The aim of the present study was to investigate the psychopathology of children suffering from bronchial asthma. A casecontrol study was conducted at the asthma clinic, Department of Pediatrics, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, 40 children age range 6-14 years with asthma were included in the study group by consecutive sampling and compared to 40 age and sex matched children with no history of chronic illness. Psychopathology of children were evaluated using Hindi version of childhood psychopathology measurement schedule (CPMS). A score of 10 or above indicates the possibility of psychopathology in children. 4/40 (10%) children with asthma had scores above the recommended cut-off score (≥10) on the CPMS and were functioning in the clinically significant maladjustment range while 3/40 (7.5%) of the control subjects had scores above the recommended cut-off score. In addition, children with asthma did not found to have a significant difference on the total score of CPMS than control subjects. There were more emotional problems with physical illness in the asthma group than the control group. The findings of this study enlightened the new facts about asthma.

Keywords

Bronchial Asthma, Psychopathology, Psychosocial Problems, Respiratory Illness.

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