Experience With Hydroxy Carbamide Use; Indications, Adverse Effects And Clinical Course At A Tertiary Care Hospital In Lagos

Abstract

Introduction: Sickle cell disease is the most common inherited haemoglobin disorder with the highest prevalence in Sub-saharan Africa. The clinical course of the disease has improved with newborn screening, penicillin prophylaxis and hydroxycarbamide use amongst other interventions. Despite the data on the benefit of hydroxycarbamide use, the uptake of hydroxycarbamide in poor resource  settings is still very low.

Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital from January to December 2017 among children with sickle cell anemia on hydroxycarbamide. Ethical Approval was obtained from the Health, Research and Ethics
committee of the Hospital. Statistical analysis was with SPSS version 20.

Results: Atotal of 1039 children were seen in the period under review with 13.5% of them on hydroxycarbamide. The commonest  indication for hydroxycarbamide was high risk for stroke while lumbar infarction was the least common indication. Adverse effects were seen in 2.1% of the recipients and all these patients had derangements of liver function. None of the recipients had hematologic adverse effects.

Conclusion: The use of hydroxycarbamide is relatively safe among children living in resource constrained settings but long term follow-up among a larger cohort is desired.

Key words: Hydroxycarbamide, indications, sickle cell disease