A STUDY OF PREMARITAL SCREENING OF SICKLE CELL DISEASE AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS OF GOMBE STATE UNIVERSITY, GOMBE, NORTHEAST, NIGERIA
Ibrahim R.*, Isa N. M. Abdulsalam Y., Ahmed I. G. and Danladi M. U.
ABSTRACT
The study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitude, of premarital screening of sickle cell disease among undergraduate students of Gombe State University. A cross-sectional study was conducted in which information was obtained from 271 students who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. A P-value of <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant for data analysis. The mean age of respondents was 22.7 ± 4.2 years. Those who are aged 20 - 30years constitute 70.0% of the study population. Of the total studied participants, 187(58.6%) were female and 139(43.6%) were in their first year of study. 77.7% of the respondents had poor knowledge of premarital screening of sickle cell disease and majority (90.9%) had negative attitude toward the screening. Age, sex, religion, marital status and faculty were found to have significant association with knowledge of premarital screening of sickle cell disease (P< 0.05). Be single was significant predictor of knowledge of premarital screening of sickle cell disease among the students (P<0.05, AOR=4.008, 95%CI=1.585-10.138)). Religion, marital status and level of study were significantly associated with attitude toward premarital screening of sickle cell disease among the studied population. Religion (P<0.05, AOR=0.299, 95%CI=0.095-0.549) and marital status (P<0.05, AOR=2.858, 95%CI=1.074-7.606) were significant predictor of positive attitude toward premarital screening of sickle disease. Significant proportion of the studied population knew little about premarital screening of sickle cell disease and had negative attitude toward such screening. Religion and marital status were found that influence attitude toward premarital screening of sickle cell disease.
Keywords: Attitude, Knowledge, Premarital, Screening, Sickle cell disease.
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