Investigation of Parental Socioeconomic Status as a Determinant of Dietary Habits and Disease Severity of Sickle Cell Disease Children

The study investigated the relationship between parental socioeconomic status (SES) and dietary habits and disease severity in children with sickle cell disease (SCD). It found that a high percentage of SCD patients' parents were of medium to high SES, indicating that parental educational background did not affect disease prevalence. Despite this, the dietary habits, specifically daily fruit and vegetable consumption, were poor across all genotypes (15-25%). Hospitalization rates varied between genotypes, with HbSS at 92.85% and HbSC at 66.67%, while the occurrence of vaso-occlusive crises was similar. Hematocrit levels differed significantly among the genotypes. The study highlights that SES does not necessarily correlate with better dietary habits or reduced disease severity in SCD children.