Management of sickle cell disease

摘要

About 250 000 children are born with sickle cell disease every year. Although most people with the disease live in Africa, where the sickle mutation appeared several thousand years ago, sickle cell disease has become common in the United States and Europe since the migration of African people. About 60 000 people in the United States and 10 000 in the United Kingdom have the disease. In our increasingly multiethnic world, a patient with sickle cell disease can present to almost any doctor. As well as specialist services, these patients need help from their general practitioners to cope with everyday life.