Ultrasonic assessment of the prevalence of gall stones in sickle cell disease children seen at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) causes chronic haemolysis which is a risk factor for cholelithiasis. AIM: To determine the prevalence and clinical correlates of cholelithiasis in SCD patients in steady state treated at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital. METHODS: This was a prospective study that took place at the Haematology and sickle cell disease clinics, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria between January and June 2018. The study population were aged between 1.5-5.5 years and confirmed to have SCD through haemoglobin electrophoresis. A brief history was obtained, and all the patients had a physical examination. Ultrasound examination was performed using a B-mode mind-ray ultrasound machine using a 3.5-5.0 MHz probe after an overnight fast. A Calculus is diagnosed when a highly echogenic structure casting a concrete shadow is detected in the lumen of the gallbladder. RESULTS: One hundred and twenty confirmed SCD patients aged between 1.5-55 years were recruited in the study, 69 (57.5%) were males, while 51 (42.5%) were females. The overall prevalence of cholelithiasis was 10%, and it increased with age. The youngest patient with cholelithiasis was 13 years old. All the patients were asymptomatic at the time of examination. At the multivariate level, age, gender, weight and gallbladder volume were associated with gallbladder stones. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of cholelithiasis in patients treated at the Sickle Cell Clinic at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar is fairly high. The patients were largely asymptomatic, and cholelithiasis is more common in females than males. This study showed a weak association between blood transfusion and gallbladder stone. It is recommended that routine abdominal ultrasound scan for gallbladder be done for SCD patients from the second decade of life in our environment.

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Seroprevalence of parvovirus BI9 antibody in blood donors and sickle cell disease patients at Lagos university teaching hospital (LUTH): a comparative study

African Journal of Clinical and Experimental Microbiology ◽

10.4314/ajcem.v15i1.3 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

MC Iheanacho ◽

SA Akanmu ◽

B Nwogoh

Keyword(s):

Sickle Cell Disease ◽

Comparative Study ◽

Sickle Cell ◽

Teaching Hospital ◽

Blood Donors ◽

University Teaching ◽

Cell Disease

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Predictors of musculoskeletal manifestations in paediatric patients presenting with sickle cell disease at a tertiary teaching hospital in Lusaka, Zambia

Bone & Joint Open ◽

10.1302/2046-3758.16.bjo-2020-0013.r1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (6) ◽

pp. 175-181

Author(s):

Raymond Mpanjilwa Musowoya ◽

Patrick Kaonga ◽

Alick Bwanga ◽

Catherine Chunda-Lyoka ◽

Christopher Lavy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Logistic Regression ◽

Sickle Cell Disease ◽

Sickle Cell ◽

Teaching Hospital ◽

Clinical Manifestations ◽

Classification Systems ◽

University Teaching ◽

Cell Disease ◽

Tertiary Teaching ◽

Musculoskeletal Manifestations

Aims Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an autosomal recessive inherited condition that presents with a number of clinical manifestations that include musculoskeletal manifestations (MM). MM may present differently in different individuals and settings and the predictors are not well known. Herein, we aimed at determining the predictors of MM in patients with SCD at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia. Methods An unmatched case-control study was conducted between January and May 2019 in children below the age of 16 years. In all, 57 cases and 114 controls were obtained by systematic sampling method. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The different MM were identified, staged, and classified according to the Standard Orthopaedic Classification Systems using radiological and laboratory investigations. The data was entered in Epidata version 3.1 and exported to STATA 15 for analysis. Multiple logistic regression was used to determine predictors and predictive margins were used to determine the probability of MM. Results The cases were older median age 9.5 (interquartile range (IQR) 7 to 12) years compared to controls 7 (IQR 4 to 11) years; p = 0.003. After multivariate logistic regression, increase in age (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.2, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04 to 1.45; p = 0.043), increase in the frequency of vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) (AOR = 1.3, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.52; p = 0.009) and increase in percentage of haemoglobin S (HbS) (AOR = 1.18, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.29; p < 0.001) were significant predictors of MM. Predictive margins showed that for a 16-year-old the average probability of having MM would be 51 percentage points higher than that of a two-year-old. Conclusion Increase in age, frequency of VOC, and an increase in the percentage of HbS were significant predictors of MM. These predictors maybe useful to clinicians in determining children who are at risk. Cite this article: Bone Joint Open 2020;1-6:175–181.

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