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ASH 2024 | Addressing the stigmatization of patients with SCD seeking pain management in acute care settings
Rabi Hanna, MD, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, comments on the need to address the stigmatization of patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) seeking pain management in acute care settings, emphasizing the importance of data, education, and scientific research to improve treatment and reduce stigma. Dr Hanna highlights that the opioid epidemic should not overshadow the unique pain experience of patients with SCD and that by understanding the physiological differences in pain perception among these patients, more effective treatment strategies can be developed to improve outcomes. This interview took place at the 66th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition, held in San Diego, CA.
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Transcript (AI-generated)
That is a very important question. We, as a nation, we have to come up to this and we have to address the health disparity and the stigma that it is coming with the pain. We have an opioid epidemic, it’s killing thousands of our young patients, but we shouldn’t let that cloud our judgment when we have a sickle cell patient. We have heard it from many patients who told me personally that there is nothing that hurts me more than the pain of sickle cell than the pain of someone who doesn’t believe me when they go to the emergency room...
That is a very important question. We, as a nation, we have to come up to this and we have to address the health disparity and the stigma that it is coming with the pain. We have an opioid epidemic, it’s killing thousands of our young patients, but we shouldn’t let that cloud our judgment when we have a sickle cell patient. We have heard it from many patients who told me personally that there is nothing that hurts me more than the pain of sickle cell than the pain of someone who doesn’t believe me when they go to the emergency room. So I think the way to address this is actually by data. We have shown in previous studies that the number of deaths from opioid overdose in the sickle cell population is less than the death from overdose in patients who have other chronic diseases. So that’s an important fact to publicize.
Two, the CDC has actually made an exception for sickle cell disease similar to a cancer patient because this patient deserves to be treated appropriately. The third, which is very important, is education. We have to educate our emergency room physicians, nurses, and even many others in the hospital about how this patient’s pain is actually important to be believed. We have to build that relationship with the patients so we can believe them because they tolerate pain and they express it physiologically different than other patients who never had any pain and they are just coming out for the first time. And finally, it’s really by science. We have to find out a better way to understand how can we measure that pain, whether newer medication, newer biomarkers that could make this a little bit easier to treat.
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Disclosures
Sanofi: Consultancy; SOBI: Speakers Bureau; Vertex: Membership on an entity’s Board of Directors or advisory committees, Advisory Board; AbbVie: Consultancy.
