Abstract:
Background: Renal involvement in sickle cell disease (SCD) contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality. The
aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) amongst SCD patients, and how
basic clinical variables differ across haemoglobin genotypes.
Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study conducted from December 2013 to May 2014 at the Sickle cell clinic
of the Tema General Hospital. One hundred and ninety-four (194) participants with SCD, receiving medical care at the
outpatient sickle cell clinic were enrolled onto the study. A structured questionnaire was administered to obtain information
on demography, clinical history, blood pressure and anthropometry. Blood and urine samples were taken for serum
creatinine and proteinuria determination respectively. The estimated GFR (eGFR) was calculated using the CKD-EPI and
Schwartz equations. CKD was defined according to the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guidelines.
Analysis was performed using GraphPad prism and P <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: CKD was present in 39.2 % of participants. Using KDIGO guidelines, 40.8 % of the HbSS participants had stage 1
CKD and none had stage 2 CKD. In addition, 30.8 % of the HbSC participants had stage 1 CKD and 3.8 % had stage 2 CKD.
There was a trend of increasing age across CKD stages and stage 2 CKD participants were oldest (P < 0.001).
Conclusion: Results from the current study suggest that CKD is common amongst SCD patients and prevalence and
intensity increases with age. Proteinuria and CKD was more common in HbSS genotype than in HbSC genotype.
