Socio-Demographic Status of Aplastic Anemia in Indian Children

Aplastic anemia is a disease in which the bone marrow, and the blood stem cells that reside there, are damaged. This causes a deficiency of all three blood cell types: red blood cells (anemia), white blood cells (leukopenia), and platelets (thrombocytopenia) ie pancytopenia with a hypocellular bone marrow. Activated autoreactive T lymphocytes induce apoptosis of haematopoietic stem cells resulting in a hypocellular bone marrow. Environmental triggers include drugs, viruses and toxins but most cases are idiopathic.. Stem cell transplantation is the treatment of choice in patients with a matched donor. Immunosuppressive therapy is another option in those who do not have a matched donor. In this manuscript focuses on the sociodemographic status of aplastic anaemia in Indian children. We have presented our 209 children with aplastic anemia presenting in the Department of Pediatrics, Institute of Medical Science, Banaras Hindu University Varanasi. over a period of 40 months.