Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been a major source of health-related morbidity and mortality worldwide. Several recent reports emerged from evaluating large cohorts of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 have shown that a small number of COVID-19 positive patients had a severe disease course. Reports have indicated that COVID-19 positive patients with cardiovascular disease are at a higher risk of developing severe phenotypes following hospitalization. Sickle cell disease (SCD) is very common in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, and cardiovascular complications and acute chest syndrome are commonly associated with SCD. The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the severity of COVID-19 infection in sickle cell anemia patients compared to a non-SCD COVID-19 cohort.
Methods: Demographic, clinical, biochemical, and follow-up data were collected for 20 sickle cell anemia patients infected with COVID-19 and 50 normal COVID-19 patients at King Fahd Hospital of the University, Al Khobar.
Results: Analysis of the data showed that acute cardiovascular symptoms, acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute kidney syndrome, and shock were absent in the SCD patients compared to the normal COVID-19 cohort. The average temperature was lower, while the platelet count was higher in the SCD cohort than in non-SCD patients.
Conclusion: SCD patients infected with the COVID-19 virus showed a less severe course of COVID-19 than non- SCD patients with COVID-19.
Key words: COVID-19, sickle cell disease, cardiovascular, severity
|
