The Impact of Hydroxyurea on Career and Employment of Patients With Sickle Cell Anemia

To that end, we compared the employment status among treatment responders, treatment nonresponders, and placebo groups of patients enrolled in MSH during the clinical trial and follow-up periods. Treatment with hydroxyurea did not significantly (p > .05) affect employment status, but there was a trend for more consistent employment in the hydroxyurea group. Given the fact that patients enrolled in MSH had moderate to severe disease with irreversible complications such as avascular necrosis, it would be attractive to hypothesize that future treatment of young patients with hydroxyurea could prevent or mitigate the incidence of complications of sickle cell anemia and, hence, improve the employment status of treated patients.