Result of video-education on "genetic transmission in thalassemia" to thalassemic patients and their parents.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the degree of knowledge improvement and retention after a single viewing of a video CD presentation on the genetic transmission of thalassemia among patients with thalassemia and their parents. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The present research was approved by Khon Kaen University Ethics Review Board A video CD on the genetic transmission of thalassemia was created as an educational tool for improving knowledge and retention. The validity and the informative usefulness of the video CD was evaluated, adapted and approved by a thalassemia expert. Between November 1, 2002 and September 30, 2005, 61 subjects (thalassemic patients and their parents, both groups were in reproductively active ages) at the Pediatric Outpatient Unit, Srinagarind Hospital, Khon Kaen, consented to participate. Their ages ranged between 17 and 50 years (mean +/-SD = 36.5 +/- 9.4; median = 38.0) and 44.3% completed elementary while 26.2% completed secondary school. Their occupations varied. Mothers, fathers, and thalassemic patients comprised 68.9%, 21.3%, and 9.8% of participants, respectively. In a quiet room in the Unit, each subject watched a single viewing of the video. A validated questionnaire (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.79) with 40 true/false items was used to evaluate baseline knowledge on the genetic transmission of thalassemia. Knowledge was retested four times: immediately after the viewing, then at the 4th, 12th, and 24th week. The scores for each test were skewed toward high scores; therefore, non-parametric tests were used for the statistical evaluation. RESULTS: The running time for the video CD was 20 minutes. The baseline knowledge on genetic transmission was high. Immediately after a single viewing of the video, the knowledge level increased significantly (p = 0.000, 95% CI = 4.0-7.0) and was maintained up to the 12th week, after which (at the 24'h week) there was a significant drop (p = 0.020, 95% CI = -2.0 to 0) compared to the immediate post-test. CONCLUSION: The authors' video CD presentation effectively provided knowledge on the genetic transmission of thalassemia to patients with thalassemia and their parents. Post-viewing knowledge increased significantly and was retained for at least 12 weeks. Thereafter a refresher should be taken.

Incidence of febrile seizures in thalassemic patients.

BACKGROUND: Febrile seizures are the most common seizures in children. Their incidence is 2-5% or 4.8/1000 person-years. To date, the pathophysiology of febrile seizures is unknown. But several hypotheses have been proposed that it may relate with plasma iron level. Such low incidence in thalassemic patients whose plasma iron level is high could give some clues to this hypothesis. PATIENTS AND METHOD: Four hundred and thirty thalassemic patients from the hematology clinic at two hospitals in Northeastern Thailand were consecutively enrolled between Febuary 2003 and January 2004. The authors reviewed all the medical records of the patients and interviewed their parents for occurrence of febrile seizures. RESULTS: The patients included 208 males and 222 females with an age ranged of 6 months to 10 years (mean = 6.36 years). Twenty patients (4.7%) had siblings who had febrile seizures. There were 3 episodes out of 2,734 person-years. The incidence was 1.10 per 1,000 person-years (95% CI: 0.23 to 3.20). This was statistically lower than that of the general population (p-value = 0.002). Therefore, the rate in thalassemic patients was 4.4 times less than that of the general population (95% confidence interval: 1.4 to 22.6). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of febrile seizures in thalassemic patients was very low compared to that of the general children population. Thus, iron overload may be a major factor involving the brain metabolism that prevents febrile seizures.