The establishment of a national screening programme examining the potentially life-threatening condition of haemochromatosis is of paramount importance in the bid to improve diagnosis rates and awareness levels, according to a new report.
On the publication of the report of the working group on haemochromatosis yesterday, its chairman, Dr Maurice Manning, said a national screening programme would provide a more accurate understanding of the prevalent hereditary disorder. The condition, which affects some 40,000 people in Ireland, is characterised by excessive absorption of dietary iron and a progressive increase in total body iron stores.
"Hereditary haemochromatosis is a potentially life-threatening illness, which affects a sizeable number of Irish people. It is also an illness which can be easily and inexpensively detected and, if caught on time, responds to relatively easy and inexpensive treatment," he said.
An awareness campaign, running in parallel with the national screening programme, was deemed of equal importance by the working group's report as haemochromatosis remains under-diagnosed and under-reported in Ireland, according to Dr Manning.
Dr Manning, who has the condition himself, described the report as a wake-up call. Its recommendations could be easily implemented, he said.
"Once people are aware of it and tested, the condition is totally treatable, but if left undetected iron lodges in the heart and kidneys and can lead to heart and kidney failure amongst a range of other different illnesses," he said.
Therefore, the working group has recommended that supplements containing high doses of iron should be available on prescription only as regular consumption of some products can exacerbate the symptoms of hereditary haemochromatosis (HH).
The group also found that a number of people with the condition and others who carry the gene for the condition may be unfairly discriminated against by the insurance industry.
"Insurers differ, but the minimum deferral period for someone following diagnosis of the HH condition is from six months to two years. Even when considered eligible for cover, applicants could expect to pay a loading of up to 100 per cent on standard rates," the report states.
Dr Manning said it was imperative to devise a common code of policy regarding insurance because in its absence, young people are dissuaded from getting tested knowing that it could affect their mortgage and insurance profile.
The Irish Haemochromatosis Association estimates that between one in 300 and one in 400 people have the potential to develop iron overload but in Ireland the proportion of the population with susceptibility to iron overload is the highest in the world.
Health Minister , Mary Harney, welcomed the report, saying she hoped its recommendations would be implemented so that people with the condition could be identified and treated as early as possible.