LEG ULCERATION IN SICKLE-CELL DISEASE IN NIGERIA

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 31  (1) , 87-91
Abstract
Leg ulceration was found in only 14 of 834 (1.7%) sickle cell patients seen in a Lagos [Nigeria] hospital. Ulcers were seen only in patients above the age of 12 yr, in whom the prevalence was 5.4%. Affected males outnumbered females 6 to 1. The etiology was traumatic in 12 patients, spontaneous in 3, and due to furuncle in 1. The most common sites were around the ankles. Ulceration was not more common in patients of low socioeconomic status. The simplest forms of aseptic treatment resulted in as variable a healing time as did more complex forms of treatment, but a high recurrence rate of ulceration (71.4%) was the major problem. There is no acceptable reason for the lower prevalence of leg ulceration in Africans with sickle cell disease, but the role of Zn in susceptibility to the ulcers deserves further investigation.

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