Burden of vaso‐occlusive crisis, its management and impact on quality of life of Indian sickle cell disease patients
Tulika Seth, Shashank Udupi, Suman Jain, Seema S. Bhatwadekar, Nandakumar Menon, Rabindra Kumar Jena, Ravindra Kumar, Shomik Ray, Bharat Parmar, Anil Kumar Goel, Ashvin Vasava, Anupam Datta, Priyanka Samal, Riya Ballikar, Deepa Bhat, Tuphan Kanti Dolai, Jina Bhattacharyya, Disha Shetty, Manish Mistry, Dipty Jain
Abstract
Sickle cell disease (SCD) with vaso-occlusive pain crisis (VOC) significantly impacts patient well-being and often results in extensive healthcare resource utilization. This study assessed the VOC burden, its management and its impact on patients' quality of life (QoL). A cross-sectional observational study was conducted between November 2021 and June 2022, including 1000 SCD patients from high-prevalence states in India. Data on demographics, clinical characteristics, VOC severity, management and QoL were collected. The study revealed that 33.5% of patients reported at least one VOC episode during the study period. In the year prior to their enrolment, 836 (83.60%) patients reported at least one VOC episode, with an equal proportion of 407/487 (83.6%) adults and 429/513 (83.6%) paediatric patients, reducing their QoL across all domains compared to patients without VOC. Of these, 469/1000 patients (46.9%) experienced ≥3 VOC episodes. Additionally, 764/1000 (76.40%) patients managed their VOCs at healthcare facilities, with 501/1000 (50.1%) requiring inpatient admissions. Further, 71.80% of patients received Hydroxyurea (HU) therapy. The study depicts the severity of the Arab-Indian haplotype in Indian SCD patients visiting healthcare settings based on high VOC burden. This highlights the urgent need for better management strategies and resource allocation for these patients.