A comprehensive review of diverse issues related to sickle cell disease.

OBJECTIVE

This review was carried out to understand diverse issues in sickle cell disease (SCD), such as its prevalence, clinical manifestations, preventive measures, secondary infections, nutrition and therapies.

METHODS

A deductive reasoning approach was followed to unearth the information from the published literature. Vast amount of resources (online and offline) were referred to collect and analyse the content related to SCD. The research publications were analysed following the standard content analysis procedures.

RESULTS

The study results revealed a dearth of literature. The available information seems inconclusive due to the local nature of the disease, the high prevalence in the developing world where the accessibility to healthcare is a big issue. The prevalence data is scarce; the studies conducted so far reveal a very small sample size making the generalization of results difficult.

CONCLUSION

The review of literature for diverse issues related to Sickle cell disease (SCD) revealed varied aspects to address the SCD related issues. Although there are reports that provide interesting insights of SCD, majority of them are inconclusive. The prevalence reported by different authors varies significantly that warrants initiation of a comprehensive SCD screening programme. The pathophysiological changes in the patients with SCD present a challenging and dynamic situation, which needs to be studied in more details. The many clinical complications reported by different authors call for a more concerted effort for additional understanding. Furthermore, the studies conducted so far are found to have very less sample size, especially in light of the prevalence estimates reported by various authors. The review indicates the important aspects of SCD that are to be addressed in urgency such as follow-up of newborns screening tests, stroke prevention, pregnancy complications, pain prevention, morbidity and mortality studies, and genetic studies for the better life of people with SCD.