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Abstract
BackgroundThalassaemia is a potentially life-threatening yet preventable inherited hemoglobin disorder. Understanding local socio-cultural context and level of public awareness about thalassaemia is pivotal for selecting effective prevention strategies. This study attempted to assess knowledge and perceptions about thalassaemia among college students in Bangladesh.MethodsA supervised cross-sectional survey was conducted on 1578 college students using a self-administered structured questionnaire. The survey took place from 15 February 2018 to 17 March 2018 in the Jamalpur district in Bangladesh. Besides the attitude-related questions, the study asked a total of 12 knowledge-related questions, which were scored on a scale of 0–12 points.ResultsOver two-thirds (67%) of the college students had never heard of thalassaemia. The urban-rural dichotomy was observed among those familiar with the term; (46.4% from urban vs. 25.8% from rural colleges). A similar pattern was observed for knowledge score; 5.07 ± 1.87 for students from the urban colleges compared to 3.69 ± 2.23 for rural colleges. Students from the science background had the highest knowledge score (5.03 ± 1.85), while those from arts and humanities background scored lowest (3.66 ± 2.3). Nearly 40% of the students were not sure or did not want to be a friend of a thalassaemia patient. Whereas 39% either declined or remained hesitant about helping thalassaemia patients by donating blood. However, most of the respondents (88%) showed a positive attitude towards ‘premarital’ screening to prevent thalassaemia.ConclusionsThis study has identified critical knowledge gaps and societal misperceptions about thalassaemia. A better understanding of these aspects will be pivotal for disseminating thalassaemia related information. As the first study of this kind in Bangladesh, findings from this study has generated baseline data that would contribute to developing effective intervention strategies in Bangladesh and other countries with a comparable socio-cultural setting.
Highlights
Thalassaemia is a potentially life-threatening yet preventable inherited hemoglobin disorder
While the majority (82.2%) of the students from the science discipline had heard of thalassaemia (p = < 0.0001), only 21.9 and 16.2% of the respondents with arts and humanities and business studies had heard of thalassaemia respectively (Table 1)
The proportion of students who had heard of thalassaemia was nearly twice as high in urban colleges than in semi-urban or rural setting (46.4% vs 25.8% respectively; p = < 0.001)
Summary
Thalassaemia is a potentially life-threatening yet preventable inherited hemoglobin disorder. Understanding local socio-cultural context and level of public awareness about thalassaemia is pivotal for selecting effective prevention strategies. Thalassaemia is an inherited hemoglobin disorder which is highly prevalent in Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries, collectively known as the ‘world thalassaemia belt’ [1, 2]. An estimated 1–5% of the world population are carriers of thalassaemia [3] including an estimated 45–70 million people in South Asian countries [4]. Half a million babies are born with serious hemoglobin disorders annually [5], with over 90% of these births in developing countries [3]. In Bangladesh, 6–12% of the population (about 10–19 million people) are carriers of a gene causing thalassaemia [4]
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