Morbidity of Homozygous Sickle Cell Anaemia in Nigerian Children

Intercurrent infections particularly of the respiratory tract, fever, abdominal/skeletal pain, haematologic and bone pain crises were the main causes of morbidity in 125 children attending a sickle cell clinic in Enugu, Nigeria. Repeated episodes of haematologic crisis in 25 per cent of the children constituted the greatest threat to life. There were no known precipitating factors in more than 60 per cent of all cases of sickle cell crisis. Because of the routine use of malaria prophylaxis, malaria infection was not an important cause of morbidity amongst the patients.