Individuals with sickle cell disease and sickle cell trait demonstrate no increase in mortality or critical illness from COVID-19 - a fifteen hospital observational study in the Bronx, New York

Abstract

Individuals with sickle cell disease and sickle cell trait demonstrate no increase in mortality or critical illness from COVID-19 -a fifteen hospital observational study in the Bronx, New York Individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD) or sickle cell trait (SCT) could confer different susceptibility to critical illness and mortality associated with COVID-19 compared to the general population. Most COVID-19 SCD and SCT publications to date are case series with small sample sizes, registry studies with limited clinical variables, and without case-matched controls. In this study, we investigated whether patients with SCD or SCT confer different risk profiles of COVID-19 disease compared to the general population and matched controls in one of the largest healthcare systems in New York City. We found that SCD patients with COVID-19 were more likely to visit the emergency department (ED) and to be admitted to the hospital compared to the general population with COVID-19. However, mortality rate, critical illness and other outcomes were not different compared to matched or unmatched controls. Similarly, SCT patients showed no differences in laboratory values and had no increased risk of worse COVID-19 related outcomes compared to the general population or their matched controls.