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Male Diabetics with Asymptomatic Sickle Cell Traits Face Magnified Risk of Complications: Presented at AACE

By John Otrompke

CHICAGO, I.L. -- May 1, 2006 -- A common asymptomatic sickle cell genotype usually believed to be harmless could be related to more frequent and more severe complications among men with diabetes, according to a study presented here at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) 15^th annual meeting and clinical congress.

"Sickle cell disease is a condition in which red blood cells become clustered, clumped up and abnormally-shaped, leading to apoxia due to obstruction of vessels. As a form of anemia, in the bones it can cause pain, and in the organs it can cause infarction, even in the brain, and lead to stroke," said Babatope Kolawole, MD, lecturer, department of medicine, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Sickle cell anemia can also be fatal.

"It used to be thought that the asymptomatic form of the genotype was benign," Dr. Kolawole said during his presentation on April 29^th. "It doesn't cause symptoms, but now we're finding out that male patients with the asymptomatic genotype who have diabetes also have worse outcomes and more complications."

In the study, the researchers divided 53 diabetic patients with or without the asymptomatic sickle cell genotype according to gender. While not all sickle cell patients have diabetes, all the patients in the study had had diabetes for an average of 4 years, the poster said.

"We found that male patients with the asymptomatic sickle cell genotype and diabetes had 1.6 times the general risk of diabetic complications, such as retinopathy, proteinuria, heart disease, and leg ulcers," Dr. Kolawole said

"We have postulated that maybe the stress caused by diabetes leads to these conditions, but it's also important to note that diabetes can cause vascular complication. Likewise, sickle cell traits also affect the vessels," Dr. Kolawole said.

The patients were only seen once, and not followed up, the researcher noted, who said that the next step for research is to design a follow-up study and increase the number of subjects to 1000, which could happen in the next two years, he said.

In the mean-time, diabetic patients from sickle cell-disposed populations should be screened as part of their initial assessment, he said.


[Presentation title: Sickle Cell Trait and gender Influence Type 2 Diabetic Complications in Nigerian Patients. Poster 232]

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