Blood pressure, hematologic and erythrocyte fragility changes in children suffering from sickle cell anemia following ascorbic acid supplementation.
Abstract
The effect of ascorbic acid supplementation (100 mg/day for 6 weeks) on blood pressure, packed cell volume, irreversibly sickled cells, per cent fetal hemoglobin, hemoglobin concentration, and erythrocyte osmotic fragility was assessed in children suffering from sickle cell anemia. Fifteen children whose ages ranged from 4 to 11 years (7.5 +/- 0.75 years) were studied. Ascorbic acid supplementation reduced systolic blood pressure by 10.9 +/- 3.4 mmHg (p < 0.01), diastolic blood pressure by 7.3 +/- 2.0 mmHg (p < 0.01) and mean arterial pressure by 9.4 +/- 2.6 mmHg (p < 0.01). It significantly increased packed cell volume (p < 0.001), hemoglobin concentration (p < 0.001) and per cent fetal hemoglobin (p < 0.001), but reduced per cent irreversibly sickled cells (p < 0.001). Ascorbic acid supplementation also abolished the long tail of the erythrocyte osmotic fragiligram and increased the resistance of the cells to lysis.
Links
Authors+Show Affiliations
,Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria. sjaja4@yahoo.com
, ,Source
MeSH
Anemia, Sickle CellAscorbic Acid
Blood Pressure
Child
Child, Preschool
Data Interpretation, Statistical
Erythrocytes, Abnormal
Female
Fetal Hemoglobin
Hematocrit
Humans
Male
Nigeria
Osmotic Fragility
Pub Type(s)
Journal ArticleLanguage
eng
PubMed ID
12521281