Sickle cell disease and sickle cell trait among subfertile women in Benin City, Nigeria

The electrophoretic patterns of haemoglobin were investigated in order to determine the distribution of sickle cell disease and sickle cell trait among 80 subfertile women in Benin City, Nigeria. Sickle cell trait was present in 25%, normal haemoglobin genotype in 73.75%, and sickle cell anaemia in 1.25%. No patient had sickle cell haemoglobin C disease or variants thereof. Observations on the influence of sickle cell trait in relation to foetal wastage in the same group of women are made and the literature reviewed. While the average parity, and the incidence of spontaneous abortions and stillbirths amongst women with haemoglobin AA and haemoglobin A/S in this study were comparable but significantly lower than the general obstetric patients in Benin, the percentage of neonatal deaths on the other hand was significantly higher in women with the sickle cell trait, due to intrapartum asphyxia. Factors which contributed to reduced fertility in the study groups are discussed.