Month of Awareness: September

By Isabelle Kang, NPHR Blog Editor In honor of September being national Sickle Cell Awareness Month, here is a quick overview of sickle cell disease. Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the most common inherited blood disorder in the United States.  Approximately 2,000 babies are born with SCD every year in the United States.  SCD is a genetic blood disorder that results in abnormal hemoglobin, a protein that carries oxygen in red blood cells. This causes red blood cells to become rigid and sickle-shaped, affecting their ability to flow through blood vessels and provide oxygen throughout the body. This can lead to pain, clots, and serious complications.  There are several types of SCD, depending on which genes a person inherits from their parents. SCD is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner; therefore, a person gets SCD when s/he receives two sickle cell genes. Carriers are people who inherit only one sickle cell gene and have the sickle cell trait (SCT) but usually do not exhibit symptoms.  Symptoms  Figure 1. Infographic about the physiology and symptoms of SCD.  Symptoms of SCD can vary in severity. As seen in Figure 2 above, symptoms generally manifest as jaundice, anemia, and swelling/inflammation of the joints. [...]