Distribution of Sickle-cell Hæmoglobin in Saudi Arabia

Epidemiology of sickle cell disease in Saudi Arabia

“…Information about the prevalence of SCD in Saudi Arabia is patchy, but studies have reported that SCD is a relatively common genetic disorder in this part of the world 4–8. The carrier status for SCD ranged from 2% to 27%, and up to 1.4% had SCD, in some areas 4–8.…”

“…SCD in Saudi Arabia was first reported in the Eastern province in the 1960s 4. This led to the initiation of multiple regional and national screening studies to determine the clinical characteristics and frequency of SCD genes in different regions of Saudi Arabia 5–8.…”

The Frequency of Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Phenotypes and Sickle Cell Genes in Al-Qatif Oasis

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] This has necessitated the screening for the two genes in all regions of the Saudi Kingdom in an attempt to identify regions with higher and lower frequencies of these genes.…”

Regional Variations in Sickle Cell Anemia in Saudi Arabia

“…However, it would seem likely that the very high frequencies observed in the Eastern Province would not be maintained in all areas, since variations in other red cell polymorphisms are known to occur in various parts of the country. For example, the early studies of Lehmann et al 17 quote figures of 25.05%, 1.52%, and 1.74% for the prevalence of the sickle gene in Eastern Province Shiite, Sunni Nejd, and Sunni Western subjects, respectively. More recently, Bayoumi et al 8 have shown marked variation in polymorphisms for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and Hb type in the tribes from western Saudi Arabia, features which may be contributed to by genetic input from the African continent.…”