Effect of sickle cell crises on glomerular filtration rate in children with sickle cell disease in Ilorin, Nigeria

Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) are plagued with incessant crises. There are few studies on the effect of sickle cell crises on renal function as determined by the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). This study was done to assess the effect of sickle cell crises on GFR during crises and after recovery into the steady state. GFR was assessed using the formula derived by Schwartz et al., for consecutive SCD patients aged between 3 and 18 years who came in crises and after recovery into the steady state. A total of 81 patients with a mean age of 9.95 ± 4.15 years in 81 episodes of crises met the inclusion criteria. Majority of the children (47) had vasooclusive crises, 19 had hyperhaemolytic crises, and 15 had features of both vasooclusive and hyperhaemolytic crises. The means value of GFR in ml/min/1.73 m(2) rose from 81.09 ± 22.92 to 116.24 ± 22.11 subsequent to recovery from vasooclusive crises into the steady state, from 77.45 ± 18.48 to 99.54 ± 17.71 following recovery from hyperhaemolytic crises into the steady state and from 90.95 ± 17.53 to 114.01 ± 22.44 following recovery from crises with features of both vasooclusive and hyperhaemolytic crises with corresponding significant P values of 0.000, 0.001, and 0.004 respectively. The reduced GFR observed during vasooclusive and hyperhaemolytic crises improved significantly following recovery into the steady state.