Coronavirus Disease among Persons with Sickle Cell Disease
New Data from patients living in the U.S.
Individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD) are a particularly vulnerable group of patients, with a higher risk of severe complications due to COVID-19 infection than the general public.
A recent scientific article entitled ‘Coronavirus Disease among Persons with Sickle Cell Disease, United States, March 20–May 21, 2020‘, published in the Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal (EID) of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and led by a team of medical specialists at the Medical College of Wisconsin, presents some interesting findings deriving from reports to a SCD–coronavirus disease case registry.
Among confirmed COVID-19 case-patients reported to the registry, the 69% hospitalization rate, 11% ICU admission rate, and 7% mortality rate are alarming, given that the mean patient age was <40 years. Authors, however, suggest that the aforementioned rates for persons with SCD could be much higher than persons of similar ages in the US population-at-large, when compared to a previous report of COVID-19 in the general US population, and underscore the need to consider the unique circumstances faced by high-risk subgroups.
Read the Full Article HERE
