Pediatrics & Therapeutics
Open Access

Opiate drugs in pain therapy in pediatrics: Case of sickle-cell 2016 in Nkongsamba/Cameroon

Joint Event on International Conference on Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics & 12^th International Conference on Pediatric, Perinatal and Diagnostic Pathology

July 13-14, 2018 | Toronto, Canada

Jacqueline Christelle Tchouassi

Italy

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Pediatr Ther

Abstract :

Statement of the Problem: Pain in patients affected by sickle-cell anemia and most especially in children in Nkongsamba/Cameroon is often minimized. As a result, the non-adequacy of pain therapy in these patients due to the poor valuation of pain is at the personal expense of the medical staff who admits the patients and to the precarious conditions of the population not suitable for the healthcare system where everyone pays for his own treatment. The aim of this study, therefore, is to denounce the poor management of pain in pediatric sickle cell patients which account for the scarcity of documentation relating pain and children. Methodology: A cross-sectional retrospective study was carried out at the Nkongsamba Central Hospital from January 2016 to December 2016, at the pediatric unit. Findings: Pain in sickle cell pediatric patients was mostly alleviated with WHO stage one analgesic (paracetamol and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and occasionally with tramadol (a stage two WHO analgesic) irrespective of the intensity of the pain. As such many children go through so much pain. Conclusion and Significance: During the episodes of pain crisis in patients affected with sickle-cell, opioid analgesics are being often used to cure the pain; in this class of drugs, morphine and its derivatives are still considered the most efficient analgesics known irrespective of its pharm codependence. When the health staff in Cameroon understands that pain in itself is a disease and needs to be taken into consideration, then they will improve the living conditions of the patients till their final stage of the disease. We recommend an adequate awareness of the population of the causes of this disease, and a greater implication of health professionals, the government (Cameroon) and of international organizations (WHO) in the alleviation of pain in pediatric sickle cell patients in Cameroon.