Renal Function in Children Suffering from Sickle Cell Disease: Challenge of Early Detection in Highly Resource-Scarce Settings

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of Sickle cell disease is extremely high in Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite this high prevalence of the disease, data on renal abnormalities in children are rare. METHOD: The study proposed to assess blood pressure, glomerular function, urea and uric acid levels in 65 steady state Congolese children with homozygous sickle cell disease and 67 normal controls. RESULTS: In Hb-SS group, blood pressure level tended to be lower than Hb-AA groups but there was no statistically significant difference (p>0.05) between the two groups. The absolute values for GFR corrected for BSA were significantly higher in Hb-SS group compared to Hb-AA group (130.5±34.1 ml/min/1.73 m(2) vs 113.7±24.5 ml/min/1.73 m(2); p = 0.004). Children with Hb-SS were more likely to hyperfiltrate (30.8% of subjects) than children with Hb-AA (6.1% of subjects). Proteinuria was found in 4 (6.2%) children with Hb-SS. Uric acid level was significantly increased in children with Hb-SS compared to corresponding values in control group (4.4±1.3 mg/dl vs 3.5±1.1 mg/dl; p<0.001). Urea level was significantly decreased compared to corresponding values in Hb-AA group (15.3±8.3 mg/dl vs 22.9±10.1 mg/dl; p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Hyperfiltration, low creatinine, lower urea and high uric acid are more common in children with sickle cell disease than in normal controls.