Clinical and electrocardiographic evaluation of sickle-cell anaemia patients with pulmonary hypertension.

Pulmonary hypertension is an emerging complication of sickle cell anaemia with associated increased risk of mortality. In order to evaluate the clinical and electrocardiographic findings in adult sickle-cell patients with pulmonary hypertension, a cross sectional study was conducted on sixty two sickle cell anaemia patients and sixty two age and sex matched normal controls. Elevated pulmonary artery pressures (PAP), defined by PAP ≥ 30 mm Hg on echocardiography, was demonstrated in 41.9% of patients with sickle cell anaemia and in 3.2% of the controls; χ(2) = 26.571, P < 0.001. Right ventricular hypertrophy, increased P-wave duration, QTc interval, and QTc dispersion were significantly associated with pulmonary hypertension. Significant correlation was found between mean PAP and (1) Frequency of crisis (Spearman correlation = 0.320; P = 0.011), (2) body mass index (Pearson's correlation = -0.297; P = 0.019), and (3) QTc interval (Pearson's correlation 0.261; P = 0.040). Pulmonary hypertension in adult sickle anaemia patients is associated with electrocardiographic evidence of right ventricular hypertrophy, and correlates significantly with frequency of vaso-occlusive crisis, and QTc interval. The observations by this study tend to suggest that these parameters could be useful for early detection and prevention of pulmonary hypertension in patients with sickle cell anaemia.

An evaluation of ankle-brachial blood pressure index in adult Nigerians with sickle cell anaemia.

AIM: There are few studies to be found in the literature on ankle-brachial index in sickle cell disease. The aim of this study was to compare ankle-brachial index of steadystate adult sickle cell anaemia patients with that of normal controls. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study of 62 sickle cell anaemia patients and 62 age- and gender-matched normal controls was carried out in the adult outpatient sickle cell clinics and the cardiac centre of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, Nigeria from February to August 2007. The supine brachial and ankle blood pressures were measured separately with the cuff of the mercury sphygmomanometer applied to the right arm and right calf, respectively. RESULTS: The ankle systolic blood pressure was lower in patients with sickle cell anaemia than in the controls (p < 0.001). The mean indices for ankle-brachial index were 0.88 ± 0.09 and 1.03 ± 0.06, respectively for patients and controls. This difference was statistically significant (p < 0.001). Seventy three per cent of the patients had ankle-brachial index less than 0.9 compared with controls (5%). This was also significant (p < 0.001).

Arterial blood pressure in adult Nigerians with sickle cell anemia.

AIM AND OBJECTIVE: This study was aimed at comparing the arterial blood pressures in steady state adult sickle cell patients with those of age- and sex-matched healthy controls. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study of 62 sickle cell anemia patients and 62 age- and sex-matched healthy controls was carried out in the adult outpatient sickle cell clinics and the cardiac center of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, Nigeria. Brachial blood pressures were measured in the right arm in all subjects. RESULTS: Significant increase in pulse rate was found in the study subjects (87.68 ± 8.91 bpm) compared with the controls (72.13 ± 6.79 bpm) (p<0.05). The mean systolic blood pressure was comparable in the two groups. However, the patients had significantly lower diastolic blood pressure, lower mean arterial blood pressure, as well as a higher pulse pressure than the control subjects. Significant correlations were found between blood pressure indices and hematocrit, body mass index, frequency of crisis, and body surface area. CONCLUSION: Relatively lower arterial blood pressure is a significant finding in patients with sickle cell anemia. Hematocrit, frequency of crisis, body mass index, and body surface area are significant determinants of blood pressure indices in sickle cell anemia.