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Article: Hydroxyurea therapy: improving the lives of patients with sickle cell disease.
- Article from:
- Pediatric Nursing
- Article date:
- November 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Jannetti Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an autosomal recessive inherited blood disorder that most commonly affects over 90,000 African-Americans in the United States, as well as Hispanics, and people of Middle-eastern ancestry or from the Mediterranean region (Food & Drug Administration, 1998; Roberts, 2003). For a child to inherit sickle cell disease, both parents must be carriers, or one parent has the disease and the other is a carrier. If both parents are carriers, there is a 1 in 4 chance (25%) a pregnancy will produce a child with sickle cell disease. If one parent has the disease and the other is a carrier, there is a 1 in 2 chance (50%) a pregnancy will produce a child with ...