Influence of haematological profile on the exercise capacity of children with sickle cell disease in Kano

Abstract

The Exercise Capacity (ExC) of children with sickle cell disease (SCD) may be influenced negatively by both haematological and environmental factors.
This study aimed to assessthe influence of haematological profile on the ExC of children with SCD in Kano and to ascertain the safety of conducting 6 minute walk test (6MWT) on those children. In the cross-sectional survey, 162 children were recruited from Murtala Mohammed Specialist
Hospital, Kano. Each of them walked to-and-fro for 6 minutes on a 10 meter marked level floor at their own walking pace in order to determine their actual 6 minute walk distance (6MWD). The actual 6MWD was compared with a predicted one in order to determine their ExC.  Full blood count was used to evaluate haematological profiles. The data were
analysed with Pearson product moment correlation and unpaired t test, at a level of significance of p<0.05 using SPSS version 20. Results showed that seventy (70) males (43.2%) and ninety two (92) females (56.8%) with mean age of 10.7±3.27 years took part in the study. The actual 6MWD was 366.20 m ± 59.88m (95%CI=356.91m - 375.49m) which was 59.17% of the predicted one. ExCcorrelated with each of White blood cell count (WBC)(r= - 0.22; p=0.005), Sex (r= - 0.27; p=0.001) and age (r=0.19; p=0.013). None of the participants experienced exercise-induced vaso-occlusive crisis during or immediately after the 6MWT.It was concluded that infection (signified by increased WBC count) and female gender have negative influence on  ExC. 6MWT is safe to be performed by children with SCD.