Assessment of serum electrolytes levels among sickle cell patients in South-Eastern Nigeria

Background: Sickle cell disease is a common genetic disorder mainly characterized by vascular occlusion and haemolysis and it constitutes a major public health problem. The aim of this study is to assess the serum electrolyte levels in sickle cell patients attending the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu.

Materials and methodology: A total of 66 subjects, ages 18 – 40 years, were recruited for this study with thirty sickle cell subjects (female = 16, Male = 14) as test subjects and thirty non-sickle cell subjects (female = 21, male = 9) as control subjects. A total of 5mls of venous blood was collected from each subject. The serum obtained from each sample was analyzed for serum electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride, and bicarbonate) by potentiometry using a sensacore autoanalyzer. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.

Results: Anthropometric results obtained from this study showed a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in mean ± SD of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and body mass index (BMI) in the test subjects compared to the control subjects respectively. The electrolyte analyses showed a significant increase (P < 0.05) in mean ± SD of potassium and chloride in the test subjects compared to the control subjects respectively. The control subjects have a non-significant increase (P > 0.05) mean ± SD of sodium compared to the sickle cell subjects while the sickle cell subject has a non-significant increase (P > 0.05) mean ± SD of bicarbonate compared to the control subjects. There was a positive correlation between sodium and bicarbonate, while in the other parameters; no significant correlation existed.

Conclusion: This study concludes that sickle cell anaemia subjects are predisposed to electrolyte variations, hence, the need to check these electrolyte values in sickle cell subjects.