Red blood cell alloimmunization in sickle cell disease - Prevalence and trends: A single-center cross-sectional study from United Kingdom

摘要

Miller and colleagues1 reported red blood cell (RBC) alloimmunization prevalence (AIP) of 14.4% (34/237) in sickle cell disease (SCD) patients recruited into a randomized trial across 31 US centers. Trial protocol allowed exclusion of 27 already alloimmunized patients; had these patients been taken into account, true AIP would have reached 16.1% (61/378). We analyzed AIP in adult (>16 years) SCD patients cared by our hospital, located in an ethnically mixed area of South London (surrounding boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark have, respectively, 25.9 and 26.8% Black race population, i.e., approx. 155,000 people~2). A total of 659 SCD patients (55% female) attended our hospital over a 10-year period (2000-2009). During this period, 314 of 659 (47.6%) patients received at least 1 RBC unit at our hospital (median, 10 units [range, 1-876 units]; median age of transfused patients was 35 [range, 16-82] years; 197 were women [62.7%]).