Nutritional status of children with sickle cell disease at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana.
BACKGROUND
Sickle cell disease (SCD) with its attendant increased energy requirements has an adverse effect on growth. Good nutrition is essential for normal childhood growth and development. Differences in growth between children living within the same SEC's are likely to be due to the effects of the sickle cell disease.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the relationship between SCD and nutritional status in children.


METHODS
This cross-sectional study, conducted at the Paediatric Sickle Cell Clinic of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, recruited 427 children aged 1-12 years: 357 SCD patients (cases) and 70 of their siblings with Hb AA (controls), over a four-month period. Their socio-demographic data, weight and height/length were documented, and the weight-for-age (WAZ) and height/length-for-age (HAZ), weight-for-height/length (WHZ) scores calculated as indices of nutritional status.


RESULTS
The mean (SD) age of SCD participants was 7.18 (3.15) years and of controls was 5.13 (3.28) years, (p=0.8). The prevalence of malnutrition was 61.3% among SCD subjects and 28.6% among controls, (p<0.001). The WAZ (underweight) and HAZ (stunting) scores were significantly more common among SCD children than controls, but the difference in the rates of wasting (WHZ) was not significant (p=0.3).


CONCLUSIONS
Ghanaian SCD children are more underweight and stunted than their Hb AA counterparts living under similar socio-economic conditions. Better education of families about the nutritional needs of SCD children in our community is needed.
C
C
Osei-Yeboah
O
O
Rodrigues
C
C
Enweronu-Laryea
D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005869:Ghana / Q000453:epidemiology; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009752:Nutritional Status; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies