ABSTRACT
Objective: To evaluate the maternal and fetal outcome in pregnant women with sickle cell disease [SCD] compared with healthy women
Setting: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Salmaniya Medical Complex, Bahrain
Design: Retrospective Case-Control Study
Method: Patients with SCD who delivered from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2012 were reviewed. The matched controls had neither SCD nor sickle cell trait
Result: Patients with sickle cell disease required significantly more admissions during their pregnancy, 135 [78.4%] compared to the control, 74 [37.4%]. One hundred thirteen [65.6%] SCD patients were admitted with vaso-occlusive crises and 18 [10.4%] with hemolytic crises. SCD patients had a significant decrease in parity, gestational age and birth weight compared with the control group. SCD patients had a significant rise in the incidence of urinary tract infection, but there was no difference between both groups in the incidence of hypertensive disorders, mode of delivery and perinatal outcome. Four [2.3%] patients with SCD died; two [1.2%] patients died due to pulmonary embolism, one [0.6%] due to acute chest syndrome and one due sepsis and disseminated intravascular coagulopathy
Conclusion: Sickle cell disease is hazardous both to the mother and the fetus and is associated with high maternal morbidity and mortality