Efficiency of prenatal counselling for sickle cell disease in Guadeloupe

As in most caribbean countries, Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a major public health problem in Guadeloupe. A prenatal counselling program was developed, at an early stage of pregnancy, for at-risk couples. Over a 6 year period, 144 couples at-risk of having a child with homozygous sickle cell (SS: n = 103) or sickle cell C disease (SC: n = 41) were seen for prenatal counselling. Among those belonging to the SS risk group, 64 (62%) underwent prenatal diagnosis (PND), which allowed identification of 27 SS fetuses, with an induced abortion rate of 70%. Among those of the SC risk group, 14 (34%) accepted PND and the diagnosis of SC was made in 5 cases with an induced abortion rate of 60%. Factors, appeared to play a role in seeking PND and induced abortion, were the type of risk (SS or SC), multiparity, existence of affected child in the family and gestational age at the time of counselling. Our experience reveals that, an early prospective identification of at-risk couples combined with education to increase the awareness of the problem at the individual and population level need to be achieved to further improve the efficiency of our prevention program.