Ferritin level in sickle cell patients at the sickle cell referral center of Lomé in 2022

Abstract

Aim: Major sickle cell sufferers residing in tropical regions find themselves at the crossroads of several situations that can modify their iron status. Our aim was to describe ferritin levels in sickle cell patients at Centre National de Recherches et de Soins aux Drépanocytaires (CNRSD) of Lomé. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of sickle cell patients seen in medical consultations from May 16 to July 15, 2022. We included all sickle cell patients with anemia, who were seen in a medical monitoring during the study period and who gave their free consent. MINDRAY automatic system BC 6000, Mini-Vidas automatic system from BIOMERIEUX, and Minicap Flex Piercing from SEBIA were used to perform hemograms, ferritin levels, protidograms, and hemoglobin electrophoresis, respectively. The variables studied were patients’ medical history, age, sex, hematimetric indices, ferritin levels, hemoglobin fractions, and protidograms. We used Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software to analyze data. Results: 117 patients with a mean age of 15.42±11.11 years were included. The sex ratio M/F was 0.98. Ferritin levels was below 15 ng/mL in 4 (3.42% of cases) and below 30 ng/mL in an inflammatory context in 7 patients (5.98%). Median ferritin level was 178.37 ng/mL; [Q1=59.39; Q3=411.35]. SS patients were most frequent (75.21%). The mean hemoglobin level of patients was 8.10±1.21 g/dL. Non-microcytic anemia was most frequent (57.30%). Conclusion: Elevated ferritin levels were more frequent than iron deficiency in sickle cell patients at the CNRSD of Lomé. Thus, any prescription of iron should be motivated by proof of the existence of iron deficiency.