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Relationship Between Clinical Parameters and Bacteraemia among Febrile Children with Sickle Cell Anaemia (SCA) In Sokoto, Northwest Nigeria |
Memunat Omar¹*, Nma M Jiya¹, Baba Jibrin¹, Usman M Sani¹, Yahaya Mohammed², Falaye A Monsurat³ |
Background: Children with Sickle Cell Anaemia (SCA) are often plagued with bacterial infections which contribute overwhelmingly to morbidity and mortality in them. Fever is a common presenting symptom and a potential sign of bacterial infection in over 75% of children with SCA that present to the emergency department. Aim: to determine the relationship between clinical parameters (temperature, duration of fever, packed cell volume) and bacteraemia among febrile children with Sickle Cell Anaemia (SCA) in Sokoto, Northwest Nigeria. Methods: This was a descriptive comparative cross-sectional study in which 240 febrile SCA subjects and 238 febrile age and gender-matched Hb AA control cohort presenting with fever and axillary temperature of ≥ 38ºC were recruited. Study subjects had thorough clinical evaluation after which blood samples were collected for blood culture (BACTEC) and packed cell volume (PCV) estimation. Data was collected using a structured proforma. The data generated was analysed using SPSS version 23 and 2016 Microsoft Excel. Descriptive statistical analysis such as mean and standard deviation was computed for quantitative variables (duration of fever, temperature, PCV). Mean values of temperature, duration of fever and PCV in the SCA subjects and the HB AA control cohorts were compared using independent t-test. Independent t test was also used to compare clinical parameters between the subjects with and without bacteraemia; p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A mean PCV of 22.1 ± 4.9 % was recorded in the febrile SCA subjects which was significantly lower than a mean of 30.9 ± 3.8 % in the febrile Hb AA controls. The mean packed cell volume (PCV) was significantly lower (20.8 ± 3.4 %) in the SCA subjects with bacteraemia compared to the SCA subjects without bacteraemia (25.9 ± 1.1 %) (p = 0.044). However, there was no statistically significant difference in the mean duration of fever and mean temperature recorded in the SCA subjects with and without bacteraemia. Conclusion: The mean PCV in febrile SCA subjects was significantly lower than the PCV in the febrile Hb AA control cohorts. Febrile SCA subjects with bacteraemia had significantly lower PCV relative to the febrile SCA subjects without bacteraemia. |
10.51658/ABMS.202441.11 |
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