hematol transfus cell ther. 2 0 1 9; 4 1(3) :216–221 www.htct.com.br Hematology, Transfusion and Cell Therapy Original article Iron deficiency, still a rarity in children with sickle cell anemia in Ile-Ife, Nigeria Olufunke Odunlade a,* , Olugbenga Adeodu b , Joshua Owa b , Efere Obuotor b a University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, Nigeria b Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 18 July 2018 Accepted 12 November 2018 Available online 28 March 2019 Keywords: Sickle cell anemia Iron deficiency Iron deficiency anemia Serum ferritin Free erythrocyte protoporphyrin a b s t r a c t In this study, children with sickle cell anemia were evaluated for iron deficiency. Serum fer- ritin and free erythrocyte protoporphyrin free erythrocyte protoporphyrin (FEP) levels, mean corpuscular volume mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) were used in determining their iron status. The study was done at Pediatric Hematology Outpatient Clinic of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals’ Complex, Ile-Ife. Forty-eight HbSS subjects in steady state and 48 appar- ently well age and sex matched HbAA controls were evaluated. Serum ferritin less than 25 ng/dL FEP greater than cut off for age, mean corpuscular volume MCV and mean corpus- cular hemoglobin MCH less than cut off for age were regarded as indicating iron deficiency. Serum ferritin values ranged from 34.2 to 3282.9 g/L, with a mean of 381.2 (1.0), median 180 g/L; which was significantly higher than the controls (p = 0.000). FEP was lower in the subjects but none was iron deficient compared with the controls. The mean corpuscular hemoglobin MCH of subjects was significantly lower than the controls. Subjects had lower mean corpuscular volume MCV compared with controls. Iron deficiency was not detected in any of the subjects with sickle cell anemia in comparison to a prevalence of 43.75% in the controls. Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) was found in 16.7% of the controls, using the WHO cut off for anemia which is hemoglobin concentration of <11 g/dl. While a high prevalence of iron deficiency was noted in the control group, patients with sickle cell anemia were largely iron sufficient, despite their anemia. Iron supplementation remains unnecessary as part of routine management of children with sickle cell anemia in our practice. © 2019 Associac ¸˜ ao Brasileira de Hematologia, Hemoterapia e Terapia Celular. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Abbreviations: EDTA, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; IDA, iron deficiency anemia; SCA, sickle cell anemia; SCD, sickle cell disease. ∗ Corresponding author at: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Clinical Science, University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, Nigeria. E-mail address: drolufunky@gmail.com (O. Odunlade). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.htct.2018.11.006 2531-1379/© 2019 Associac ¸˜ ao Brasileira de Hematologia, Hemoterapia e Terapia Celular. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).