What the trial was testing
The BABY HUG enrolled 193 patients with sickle cell disease. The study was sponsored by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and tracked outcomes across the full group of patients who matched the trial's eligibility profile.
It was a large trial designed to confirm whether the treatment works well enough for wider use. Trials at this stage are designed to produce evidence regulators and physicians can act on — not just observations to follow up later.
What the results showed
Hydroxyurea reduced painful episodes by more than half in toddlers with sickle cell disease.
Lancet (London, England) · 2011 · NCT00006400
These findings — that children taking hydroxyurea had about half as many painful crises compared to those on placebo — were published in the Lancet (London, England) and represent the headline result of the study.
Researchers tracked outcomes across 193 patients enrolled in the trial. The result was consistent enough across the group that the team felt confident reporting it.
What this means for patients
For patients with sickle cell disease, this result changes the calculus on what to ask their care team about. Whether it changes day-to-day care depends on factors like disease subtype, prior treatments, and where the patient is in their care journey.
What you can do now
Hydroxyurea is FDA-approved for sickle cell disease and is now recommended for very young children based on this study. It significantly reduces pain crises and hand-foot swelling, though it doesn't prevent all organ damage. Talk to your child's doctor about whether hydroxyurea is right for them.
Eligibility for the treatments mentioned above depends on specific test results and clinical history. Bring this summary, the trial name, and your most recent labs or pathology report to your next visit.
Open sickle cell disease trials
Exploratory Study on Global Reflexology in Sickle Cell Disease
Sickle cell disease (or sickle cell anemia) is the most common genetic disease in France with 586 children screened in 2019. This chronic disease is characterized by the presence of abnormal Hemoglobin (Hb) S and a deformation of the red blood cells which take the elongated shape of a sickle and become more rigid and more fragile. Sickle cell disease manifests itself among other things by very painful vaso-occlusive crises (VOC) and for some chronic pain. Their management is an emergency and often requires hospitalization. Despite analgesic treatment, some patients have persistent pain. In 2013, a childcare assistant trained in Canadian global reflexology EMC offered reflexology sessions to 12 sickle cell patients. She observed a relief in all patients with a decrease in the pain score in 8 of them. These sessions seem to show us a double interest: the reduction of the child\'s pain and the emergence of a technique that can be used by paramedics in the context of their own role. The investgators hypothesize that global reflexology is an effective and acceptable complementary technique for pain management in addition to the usual analgesic management in sickle cell children under 18 years of age in CVO. In order to verify our hypothesis, the investigators propose to explore the practice of Canadian global reflexology as an innovative therapeutic option complementary to drug treatments in the hospital management of sickle cell children.
Sickle Cell Clinical Research and Intervention Program
Despite the important work of previous sickle cell disease (SCD) cohort studies, there remain many understudied areas that require investigation. An important knowledge deficit is the slow but progressive process of chronic end-organ dysfunction. The majority of organ dysfunction becomes apparent in the young adult years, but comprehensive assessment of adults and understanding of predictors of adulthood organ dysfunction are insufficient. Similarly, the role of disease-modifying therapies, such as hydroxyurea, in preventing organ dysfunction later in life is not clear. Extended follow-up of patients through the transition into adulthood is imperative to understand the long-term implications of pediatric sickle cell care. This observational study will collect data in a systematic fashion at participants' regular clinic visits (in-person or remote) to answer the objectives described below. In addition to primary study objectives, SCCRIP participants will be eligible to participate in a sub-study, which will investigate genetically determined responses to Hydroxyurea (HU) via a pharmacokinetic study (PK). This one time study will involve blood collection at timed intervals proceeding a dose of HU. Defining the basis for this inter-individual variability will allow the identification of poor HU responders prior to initiation of therapy and the seeking of alternative treatments which seek to optimize disease treatment by accounting for individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle.