Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 16, 2026
A Precision Medicine Tool for Measurement and Monitoring of Hemoglobin S in Sickle Cell Disease Patients Receiving Transfusion Therapy
Sickle Cell Trait, Rhabdomyolysis, and Mortality among U.S. Army Soldiers
D Alan Nelson1, Patricia A Deuster1, Robert Carter1
1From the Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA (D.A.N., L.M.K.); the Consortium for Health and Military Performance, Department of Defense Center of Excellence, and the Department of Military and Emergency Medicine, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD (P.A.D.); and the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research (R.C.), the Extremity Trauma and Amputation Center of Excellence, Center for the Intrepid, Brooke Army Medical Center (O.T.H.), and the Army-Baylor University Graduate Program in Health and Business Administration (V.L.W.), Fort Sam Houston, and the Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (R.C.) - all in San Antonio, TX.
Background:
Studies have suggested that sickle cell trait elevates the risks of exertional rhabdomyolysis and death. We conducted a study of sickle cell trait in relation to these outcomes, controlling for known risk factors for exertional rhabdomyolysis, in a large population of active persons who had undergone laboratory tests for hemoglobin AS (HbAS) and who were subject to exertional-injury precautions.
Methods:
We used Cox proportional-hazards models to test whether the risks of exertional rhabdomyolysis and death varied according to sickle cell trait status among 47,944 black soldiers who had undergone testing for HbAS and who were on active duty in the U.S. Army between January 2011 and December 2014. We used the Stanford Military Data Repository, which contains comprehensive medical and administrative data on all active-duty soldiers.
Results:
There was no significant difference in the risk of death among soldiers with sickle cell trait, as compared with those without the trait (hazard ratio, 0.99; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.46 to 2.13; P=0.97), but the trait was associated with a significantly higher adjusted risk of exertional rhabdomyolysis (hazard ratio, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.12 to 2.12; P=0.008). This effect was similar in magnitude to that associated with tobacco use, as compared with no use (hazard ratio, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.23 to 1.94; P<0.001), and to that associated with having a body-mass index (BMI; the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) of 30.0 or more, as compared with a BMI of less than 25.0 (hazard ratio, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.04 to 1.86; P=0.03). The effect was less than that associated with recent use of a statin, as compared with no use (hazard ratio, 2.89; 95% CI, 1.51 to 5.55; P=0.001), or an antipsychotic agent (hazard ratio, 3.02; 95% CI, 1.34 to 6.82; P=0.008).
Conclusions:
Sickle cell trait was not associated with a higher risk of death than absence of the trait, but it was associated with a significantly higher risk of exertional rhabdomyolysis. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.).
More Related Videos
08:23Characterization of Sickling During Controlled Automated Deoxygenation with Oxygen Gradient Ektacytometry
Published on: November 5, 2019
05:23Continuous Manual Exchange Transfusion for Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: An Efficient Method to Avoid Iron Overload
Published on: March 14, 2017
