Caracterización de pacientes con anemia de células falciformes en Medellín, Colombia

OBJECTIVE: To characterize patients with a diagnosis of sickle cell anemia in a highly complex health institution in the metropolitan area of Medellin, Colombia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective, descriptive, observational study done from January 2013 to December 2017 including patients with a diagnosis of sickle cell anemia. For the analysis, relative and absolute frequencies were used for qualitative variables, while average, median, mean and standard deviation were used for quantitative variables with normal distribution and median and interquartile ranges for those with non-normal distribution. RESULTS: Seventy-four patients with sickle cell anemia were included, with a median age at the time of diagnosis of 3 years, male sex predominated with 56.8% (n = 42). Regarding the health regime, 59.5% (n = 44) belonged to the contributory system, followed by the subsidized plan with 25.7% (n = 19). Regarding the clinical manifestations, 66.2% presented a vaso-occlusive events and/or chronic hemolysis. CONCLUSIONS: Vaso-occlusive events and moderate anemia were predominant in this study, which is of great importance for health professionals, because from these events derive non-infectious and infectious complications of the patients, as well as the hemodynamic requirements when establishing therapeutic management.