Abstract

TEBUKA, Erius; CHARLES, Mwesige  and  BHUKO, Jeffer O.. Prevalence and risk factors for red blood cell alloimmunisation among sickle cell patients in Mwanza City, Tanzania. Afr. J. Lab. Med. [online]. 2020, vol.9, n.1, pp.1-5. ISSN 2225-2010.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ajlm.v9i1.823.

BACKGROUND: Erythrocyte alloimmunisation can lead to complications such as delayed haemolytic transfusion reaction OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the prevalence of and risk factors for red blood cell alloimmunisation among multiply transfused sickle cell disease (SCD) patients in Mwanza City, Tanzania METHODS: From May 2017 to July 2017, this descriptive, cross-sectional, hospital-based study enrolled 200 participants with SCD who had received at least two units of blood in the previous year. Blood count was performed using a Sysmex haematology analyser. Antibody screening was done by the tube method using a panel of three screening cells with known antigenicity RESULTS: Of the 200 patients enrolled, 108 (54%) were female. The median age was 4.5 years (interquartile range [IQR] = 6), the median number of transfusions was 3 (IQR = 1), and the median pre-transfusion haemoglobin level was 6.6 g/dl (IQR = 2.7). Prevalence of alloimmunisation was 8.5% (17/200) with immunoglobulin G, and one patient developed cold immunoglobulin M antibodies. Blood groups reported were Rhesus C and E, Kell, Kidd and Duffy. There was no statistically significant association between the number of transfusions and the risk of alloimmunisation CONCLUSION: The rate of alloimmunisation in multiply transfused SCD patients was 8.5% and higher than other studies in East Africa. Thus, there is a need for extensive red blood cell screening and matching to minimize alloimmunisation and risk of delayed haemolytic transfusion reaction, particularly in SCD and chronically transfused patients

Keywords : sickle cell disease; alloimmunisation; alloantibody; screening cells; Bugando Medical Centre; Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences; red blood cells.

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