Abstract

Despite the general view that patients with sickle-cell disease (SCD) have iron overload, there are reports of iron deficiency in a proportion of these patients. We studied Yemeni patients aged 1-30 years with homozygous SCD to determine their iron status using a set of 4 criteria (low serum iron, low transferrin saturation, high total iron binding capacity and low mean corpuscular volume for age). Of the 75 patients, 44 had never been transfused while 31 patients had received blood transfusions but not during the 3-month period prior to the study. Of the patients, 10 (13.3%) met the criteria for iron deficiency, 9 of whom were from the non-transfused patients (20.5%). The sensitivity and specificity were 40% and 98% respectively for reticulocyte count and 80% and 90% respectively for reticulocyte index. We recommend screening non-transfused SCD patients for iron deficiency.

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Authors

Kassim A, Thabet S, Al-Kabban M, Al-Nihari K

Institution

Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Taiz, Taiz, Yemen. taizmedicine@yemen.net.ye

Source

Eastern Mediterranean health journal = La revue de santé de la Méditerranée orientale = al-Majallah al-ṣiḥḥīyah li-sharq al-mutawassiṭ 18:3 2012 Mar pg 241-5

MeSH

Adolescent
Adult
Anemia, Iron-Deficiency
Anemia, Sickle Cell
Blood Transfusion
Child
Child, Preschool
Comorbidity
Female
Humans
Infant
Male
Reticulocyte Count
Yemen
Young Adult

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22574477