Comparative studies of live neonates in maternal sickle cell haemoglobinopathy in Ghana.

This study assessed the current status of live neonates born to sickle cell mothers when compared with those of normal (control) women. Birth weight, placental weight, fetoplacental ratio, and gestational age for live neonates in singleton births by twenty-nine haemoglobin SS (HbSS), fifty-two haemoglobin SC (HbSC), and fifty-one (normal) haemoglobin AA (HbAA) mothers were statistically compared. Neonates of HbSS mothers had a statistically lower than normal mean birth weight and gestational age, but only a shorter mean gestation significantly distinguished those of the HbSC and HbAA mothers. Inferentially, neonates delivered by HbSS women were both underweight and preterm, whereas those of HbSC women were preterm but not underweight, and apparently large for gestational age (LGA). No statistical differences were found between neonates in terms of placental weights or fetoplacental ratios.