Survival advantage in female patients with sickle cell anaemia.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the clinical and laboratory features of adult sickle cell anaemia patients in Nigeria.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study.

SETTING

Haematology clinic of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.

SUBJECTS: Sixty nine adult sickle cell anaemia patients randomly sampled.

RESULTS

The mean steady state haematocrit, HbA2 and HbF were 22%, 4.6% and 7% respectively. Twenty five per cent of the patients had never received blood transfusion and a similar proportion recorded an infrequent occurrence of painful crises.

CONCLUSION

An improved survival was observed with female patients showing an age related survival advantage over the males. Persistent splenomegaly was observed less frequently in the Nigerian sickle cell population despite the high frequency of alpha thalassaemia in the region. This was thought to be due to the lower levels of HbF in this population.