Patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) having a history of disease-related comorbidities have been noted to have a greater risk for worse COVID-19 outcomes in a new research published in Blood Advances.

Children were more likely to need hospitalization for COVID-19 if they had frequent acute care visits for pain previously (relative risk [RR] 2.15, P<0.0001), and SCD-related heart and lung comorbidities (RR 1.61, P=0.0001). Investigators noted that history of pain was also a risk factor for hospital admission in adults (RR 1.78, P=0.002).

Investigators included 750 children and adults with SCD and COVID-19 who were reported in the SECURE-SCD Registry between March 20, 2020 and March 23, 2021. Children who had a history of pain (RR 3.09, P=0.009), SCD-related heart and lung comorbidities (RR 1.76, P=0.03), and SCD-related renal comorbidities (RR 3.67, P<0.0001), had a greater risk of developing serious COVID illness. Adults with a history of pain were also more likely to have serious COVID-19 (RR 1.94, P=0.02)… (Medpage Today)