Question

The parents of a child with sickle cell anemia are concerned about subsequent children having the disease. Which response by the nurse is most accurate?

a) "Sickle cell anemia is not hereditary, so the risk to subsequent children is low."

b) "The risk of having a child with sickle cell anemia is 50% if both parents carry the trait."

c) "Subsequent children will not inherit sickle cell anemia if the parents have only one affected child."

d) "There is a 25% chance of having a child with sickle cell anemia if both parents carry the trait."

Answer 1

The correct response is that there is a 25% chance of having a child with sickle cell anemia if both parents carry the sickle cell trait. This is because sickle cell anemia is an autosomal recessive disorder, requiring two copies of the defective gene to manifest the disease.

Step-by-step explanation:

The most accurate response by the nurse regarding the risk of subsequent children having sickle cell anemia when both parents carry the trait is: "There is a 25% chance of having a child with sickle cell anemia if both parents carry the trait." Sickle cell anemia is an autosomal recessive condition. This means that both parents need to pass on the defective gene for a child to be affected. If both parents are carriers (heterozygous for the sickle cell allele), each child they conceive will have:

This scenario does not change with the number of children; each pregnancy is an independent event with the same probabilities.