Family planning practices among parents of β-thalassemic children attending thalassemia center,Sir Ganga Ram hospital Lahore

Objectives: to assess effect of socio-demographic factors on family planning practices among parents of β-thalassemia children attending thalassemia center of sir ganga ram hospital,lahore. study design: cross sectional study settings and duration of study: thalassemia center,sir ganga ram hospital lahore,pakistan from february 2013 to april 2013. patients and methods: one hundred and forty-nine parents (149) of thalassemic children attending the thalassemia clinic for blood transfusion or chelation therapy were enrolled for this study. information regarding socio-demographic variables and contraceptive practices were obtained using a pre-tested semistructured questionnaire. relationship between family planning practices and socio-demographic factors were evaluated using pearson chi-square test. spss version-18 was used for computing both qualitative and quantitative data. results: of 149 families,only ninety seven(65%) were using contraception,though136 (91.3%) were aware of different family planning methods. condom was the most frequently method (52.6%) used by these study participants. younger mothers (age <35 years) had a significantly higher family planning practices use (p=0.01). maternal education and small family size was also found to be statistically significant (p=0.03),however,no significant association was observed between the number of thalassemic children and family planning practices (p=0.35). conclusion: having a thalassemic child did not affect the reproductive behavior of parents,despite the higher level of awareness about family planning methods,its availability and access.