Pitted red cell counts in Nigerian children with sickle cell anemia: correlation with age and splenic size.
Using direct interference phase-contrast microscopy (Normansky Optics), pit counts were performed on 32 HbSS patients, aged 3 to 17 years. The influence of age and splenic size on counts were also investigated. Nine HbSS and 15 HbAA age and sex-matched, healthy individuals served as controls. The mean +/- SD counts in the three groups were 11.1 +/- 9.1%, 1.7 +/- 1.4% and 1.8 +/- 1.7%, respectively. The older SS patients tended to have higher values, but the linear correlation with age was not impressive (r = 0.28). Seventeen (53.1%) patients had counts greater than 10%, while 8 (25%) had less than 3.5%. Five patients with gross splenomegaly had a mean count of 4.3 +/- 1.9%, significantly lower than the figure of 12.3 +/- 7.9% for the patients without splenomegaly (P less than .001), demonstrating retained reticulo-endothelial function in such patients.
Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
A D
AD
Adekile
C A
CA
Reindorf
O A
OA
Adeodu
W
W
Johnson
B A
BA
Dairo
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004906:Erythrocyte Count; D004913:Erythrocytes, Abnormal; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009549:Nigeria; D013154:Spleen / Q000473:pathology*