Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Sickle cell disease belongs to the hemoglobinopathies group that includes genetically inherited blood diseases. These diseases occurred due to single-gene autosomal recessive mutations. The inheritance of these mutations contributes to the formation of either abnormally structured hemoglobins or inadequate to no production of globin chains in the hemoglobins. Sickle cell disease constitutes a global concern since it can cause morbidity and early mortality of the affected people. It is a common monogenic disorder in Saudi Arabia where multiple organs are affected. The hepatobiliary system is among the affected systems with the spectrum of acute clinical presentations often referred to as “sickle cell hepatopathy”. The evaluation of liver enzymes as a sickle cell hepatopathy prediction tool is not fully addressed. Here in this work, we performed a retrospective correlation quantitative study to confirm that the decrease in the hemoglobin levels due to sickle cell crises predicts an early development of hepatomegaly. This prediction was estimated by correlating hemoglobin levels to the liver enzyme levels. The data was collected from King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh for patients with a confirmed diagnosis of sickle cell disease for 5 years period and analyzed using SPSS and Microsoft excel. Our findings revealed an inverse relationship between hemoglobin levels and liver biomarkers. These results emphasize on the importance of earlier interventions to prevent liver degeneration in SCD patients.
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4413066464