[Renal Damage In Sickle Cell Disease: The Experience Of A Sickle Cell Reference Center In Sub-Saharan Africa]

renal damage, often due to impaired glomerular function, is a progressive complication associated with high mortality in sickle cell disease. Few studies report on this complication in the context of organized care in sub-Saharan Africa.

to describe renal damage in sickle-cell patients attending in sickle-cell referral center in sub-Saharan Africa.

a descriptive and analytical study with retrospective data collection was carried out from March 2010 to March 2017, at the «Centre de Recherche et de Lutte contre la Drépanocytose» of Bamako, Mali.

125 sickle cell disease patients, including 70 SS, 43 SC, 10 Sβ+thalassemics and 2 Sβ°thalassemics, distributed between 67 women and 58 men with a mean age of 33.03 ± 15.53 years, were identified. Renal damage was documented by sickle cell nephropathy (84.8%), CKD (10.4%) and hematuria (4.8%); it was significantly associated with a history of hypertension, diabetes or non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs use (p < 0.05), but was not observed in patients with fœtal hemoglobin > 20%. Five patients (4%) were on chronic kidney dialysis.

the precocity and high frequency of renal damage in sickle-cell patients in sub-Saharan Africa call for studies to identify the risk factors for this complication in a cohort of sickle-cell patients followed up from birth.