Babu Bontha V, Sridevi Parikipandla, Surti Shaily, Ranjit Manoranjan, Bhat Deepa, Sarmah Jatin, Sudhakar Godi, Sharma Yogita
Division of Socio-Behavioural & Health Systems Research, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India.
Department of Biotechnology, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, India.
Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2021 Dec 2;115(12):1434-1444. doi: 10.1093/trstmh/trab075.
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a serious public health problem, with >300 000 affected births worldwide each year. About 73% of the SCD-affected people in India belong to the tribal population. The Government of India is planning to implement a programme for SCD and hence people's knowledge of SCD is crucial. This paper reports the SCD-related knowledge among the Indian tribal population.
As part of a formative assessment before an intervention, data were collected from 9837 adults from 24 primary health centre areas of six states. Each community's knowledge of SCD was elicited through an interviewer-administered pretested questionnaire. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted.
Overall, 32.1% (CI 31.2 to 33.1%) of participants had heard of SCD, 7.9% (CI: 7.3 to 8.4%) knew that SCD is hereditary, 19.4% (CI: 18.7 to 20.3%) knew that a blood test can diagnose SCD and 23.9% (CI: 23.1 to 24.8%) knew that SCD is treatable. Only 13.1% (CI: 12.4 to 13.8%) knew that SCD can be prevented. No more than 16% knew about any SCD symptoms. Multiple logistic regression revealed some predictors of basic knowledge (i.e. had heard of SCD).
There is a gross inadequacy of knowledge about SCD in the Indian tribal population. This study warrants implementing a health education programme as a part of the SCD programme.
镰状细胞病（SCD）是一个严重的公共卫生问题，全球每年有超过30万例受影响的新生儿。在印度，约73%受镰状细胞病影响的人属于部落人口。印度政府正计划实施一项针对镰状细胞病的项目，因此人们对镰状细胞病的了解至关重要。本文报告了印度部落人口中与镰状细胞病相关的知识情况。
作为干预前形成性评估的一部分，从六个邦24个初级卫生中心地区的9837名成年人中收集数据。通过由访谈员管理的经过预测试的问卷，了解每个社区对镰状细胞病的认识。进行了单变量和多变量分析。
总体而言，32.1%（置信区间31.2%至33.1%）的参与者听说过镰状细胞病，7.9%（置信区间：7.3%至8.4%）知道镰状细胞病是遗传性的，19.4%（置信区间：18.7%至20.3%）知道血液检查可以诊断镰状细胞病，23.9%（置信区间：23.1%至24.8%）知道镰状细胞病是可治疗的。只有13.1%（置信区间：12.4%至13.8%）知道镰状细胞病可以预防。不超过16%的人了解任何镰状细胞病症状。多元逻辑回归揭示了一些基本知识（即听说过镰状细胞病）的预测因素。
印度部落人口对镰状细胞病的了解严重不足。本研究有必要实施一项健康教育项目，作为镰状细胞病项目的一部分。
