Outcome of pregnancy in a population of Nigerian women with sickle cell trait

Although variable clinicopathological entities have been documented in sickle cell trait in pregnancy, such information is absent in this environment. This study therefore was aimed at examining the outcome of pregnancy in a population of Nigerian women with sickle cell trait. A prospective analytical study was carried at Ile-Ife, Nigeria comparing morbidities and mortalities between 210 pregnant women with sickle cell trait and 210 women with HbAA. Data were processed using SPSS 11.0 and PEPI packages, and the p value was set at ≤0.05. There were no significant differences between mothers with sickle cell trait and HbAA in terms of sociodemographic characteristics, the course of labour, deliveries and morbidity patterns. However, mothers with sickle cell trait had significantly fewer attacks of malaria in pregnancy (25.7% compared with 34.8%) and faster recovery of their newborn from birth asphyxia at 1 min (0.9% compared with 4.9%). Sickle cell trait may confer greater resistance to malaria in pregnancy and carries no extra risk to the outcome of pregnancy. © 2006 Taylor & Francis.