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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2022 Jan 4;15(1):1.
doi: 10.1186/s13104-021-05885-1.

Translating research to usual care of children with sickle cell disease in Northern Nigeria: lessons learned from the SPRING Trial Team

Halima Bello-Manga  1 , Lawal Haliru  2 , Abdulkadir M Tabari  3 , Bilkisu Farouk  3 , Aisha Suleiman  3 , Gloria Y Bahago  4 , Abdulrasheed M Sani  5 , Ana A Bauman  6 , Michael R DeBaun  7 , Allison A King  8
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Translating research to usual care of children with sickle cell disease in Northern Nigeria: lessons learned from the SPRING Trial Team

Halima Bello-Manga et al. BMC Res Notes. .

Abstract

Objectives: Evidence-based practice for stroke prevention in high-income countries involves screening for abnormal transcranial Doppler (TCD) velocity and initiating regular blood transfusions for at least 1 year, followed by treatment with hydroxyurea. This practice has not been transferred to low-resource settings like Nigeria, the country with the highest global population density of SCD. Following a multi-center randomized controlled trial among children with SCA in northern Nigeria, screening for stroke and initiation of hydroxyurea was established as standard of care at the clinical trial sites and other locations. We aim to describe the critical steps we took in translating research into practice for stroke prevention in SCA in Nigeria. Guided by the PRISM framework, we describe how we translated results from a randomized controlled trial for primary prevention of stroke in children with sickle cell anemia into usual care for children with SCA in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Results: Findings from this study demonstrate the importance of organizational support and stakeholder involvement from the onset of a clinical trial. Having the dual objective of conducting an efficacy trial while simultaneously focusing on strategies for future implementation can significantly decrease the lag time between discovery and routine practice.

Keywords: PRISM; Sickle cell disease; Stroke.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISM elements activated in translating research to practice following the SPRING trial in an academic hospital in Kaduna, Nigeria
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Challenges to establishing a stroke prevention program in northern Nigeria and how they were addressed. (HU hydroxyurea, TCD Transcranial Doppler)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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