This Week in sickle cell news April 27th to may the 3rd

This Week in Sickle Cell News to April the 27th May the 3rd

By Sean Marshall
Budget cuts in Illinois State is set to affect Chicago residents as well as college students from out of town living in the Chicago area living with sickle cell. It was reported by the North West Herald and the associated press on the 27th of April that “a bipartisan deal to cut $300 million in spending in Illinois.” In the article it was mentioned that “ he Chicago Tribune reported the deal reached weeks ago by Gov. Bruce Rauner and lawmakers calls for a 2.25 percent spending cut across much of state government.”

However the cuts were not done out of spite or malice. It was reported that the cuts were made in order to close a $1.6 billion hole in this years current budget. The reason why it affects students is because “as many as 3,000 students will miss out on grants this school year.” The grants specifically targeted all involve breaks that students will illnesses like sickle cell suffer from. The reason the cuts affect residents is that funding for the Chicago sickle cell center at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System. As of right now the center has a looming budget cut of $500,00.

The article did mention that other areas were affected as well. Giving the example of other cuts include “$419,300 from a state Department of Human Services domestic violence shelter program and $225,900 from an agency program for expectant parents.”

The full article can be found here: http://www.nwherald.com/2015/04/27/illinois-budget-cuts-to-affect-students-sickle-cell-center/af7g8on/

The latest medical news has reveled that a new drug designed to treat sickle cell anemia pain is not being prescribed as actively as it could. The only reason for the discovery is because of a study guaging drug use in hospitals. It was announced this week that the beneficial sickle cell drug Hydroxyurea despite being a strong pain reliever has been prescribed lower then most pain drugs treating sickle cell disease. In articles published by Medicalpress and Helio, both news sites that relay information about blood disorders and other medical, issues reported that “The recommendation from the 2014 NHLBI guidelines to treat all adults with sickle cell anemia and 3 or more moderate to severe pain crises within 1 year with hydroxyurea was rated strong based on high-quality evidence reviewed in 2008,”

The drug itself is very beneficial the study that the articles were based off of explained that “3 out of 4 patients with extreme pain due to sickle cell could benefit from hydroxyurea.”

The main reasons the drug has not made it into the hands of those in need was also covered in both articles. ““Several barriers to treatment have been identified, including fear of adverse events, lack of clinical training and failure to engage in shared decision making. Our estimate reflects the combined effect of all barriers to treatment, regardless of source.” Because of the recent news however the drug is becoming more available.



The Both article can be found here:

http://www.healio.com/hematology-oncology/hematology/news/online/%7B3f04f282-d308-4786-875a-fabab761c2e5%7D/hydroxyurea-may-be-underused-for-patients-with-sickle-cell-anemia

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-04-sickle-cell-patients-beneficial-drug.html

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