Abstract

Ikeh Kanayo Eugene*, Damulak Obadiah Dapus, Azachi Williams Bitty

ABSTRACT

Sickle cell anaemia is the most common hereditary blood disorder in Africans. Most of the time, patients are in a steady state free of pain or infection. The disease becomes more sever in these conditions and patients are said to be in crisis. We measured the haemoglobin concentration and total leucocyte count of sickle cell patients to determine if these could be used as prognostic indicators of disease severity. We recruited 30 patients in steady state, 30 in crisis, and 30 age-matched controls with the haemoglobin AA genotype. Haemoglobin concentration was lower in sickle cell patients than the controls and total leucocyte count higher, confirming the chronic haemolytic process occurring and the predisposition to infection. Haemoglobin concentration was not significantly different between sickle cell patients in crisis and steady state in all the three age groups, ?23, 24-26, and ?27 years (p-values 0.701, 0.382, 0.677 respectively). Total leucocyte count was higher in crisis patients in the ?23 age group (p-value 0.008), but not significant in the other age groups. We conclude that haemoglobin concentration cannot be used to predict disease severity, however assessing leucocyte count could significantly reduce visits to the emergency room, at least for patients under 23 years.