Sickle Cell Disease in Pregnancy
Sickle Cell Disease in Pregnancy
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Project Site Location
Accra, Ghana
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Partner Organization(s)
University of Ghana, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital
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UIC CGH Faculty Contact
Sarah Boudova
Project/Activity Summary
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of inherited hemoglobinopathies, affecting ~7.74 million women worldwide. SCD causes severe anemia, vaso-occlusive crises, cerebrovascular disease, opportunistic infections, end organ damage, and mortality. Pregnancy increases the risk of adverse SCD outcomes, and SCD is associated with worse obstetric outcomes including preeclampsia, preterm birth, fetal growth restriction, stillbirth, and maternal mortality. Despite the high prevalence and significant morbidity/mortality, there is scant data on the pathophysiology and management of SCD in pregnancy. The burden of SCD in pregnancy disproportionately affects women in Sub-Saharan Africa. The University of Ghana has the largest SCD-Obstetric care program in Africa, managing approximately 600 pregnant women with SCD annually. We aim to 1) characterize the management and outcomes of SCD pregnancies at UIC and Ghana, developing a database that can be queried to examine the relationship between different risk factors, management strategies and pregnancy and SCD outcomes; 2) develop a cohort of patients treated with disease-modifying therapies during pregnancy, following closely with active and passive surveillance and collecting specimens to develop a biobank for future research; and 3) explore the placental pathophysiology of SCD in pregnancy, taking advantage of the biobank.
This project is supported by the UIC/NIH Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health program.