Sickle Cell Disease, & it's Epidemiology in the United States
- Sina Amadi
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
Introduction
"Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders." (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2025, Overview section, para. 1). Red blood cells contain hemoglobin, and hemoglobin is a protein that carries oxygen. (CDC, 2025, Overview section, para. 1). In a person with sickle cell disease, the hemoglobin is abnormal which leads to red blood cells to come to be sticky, hard, and look like a C-shaped farm tool called a sickle. (CDC, 2025, Overview section, para.1). Furthermore, the sickle cells die early, which results in a continual scarcity of red blood cells, and when they move through small blood vessels, sickle cells get jammed, and block the blood flow (CDC, 2025, Overview section, para. 1).
The most common types of sickle cell disease are: HbSS, HbSC, and HbS beta thalassemia (CDC, 2025, Types section). With the HbSS form of sickle cell disease, people inherit two genes, one from each parent that code for hemoglobin "S" and for people who have the HbSC they inherit a gene from a different type of abnormal hemoglobin called "C" from one parent, and they inherit the S gene from the other parent (CDC, 2025, Types section). Finally, people who have the HbS beta thalassemia form of sickle cell disease, inherit a gene for beta thalassemia from one parent which is another type of hemoglobin abnormality, and the hemoglobin S gene from the other parent (CDC, 2025, Types section). Other types of sickle cell disease which happen to be rare are: HbSE, HbSD, and HbSO, and individuals who have these rare forms of sickle cell disease inherit one gene that codes for another abnormal type of hemoglobin ("E", "D", or "O") and one hemoglobin S gene (CDC, 2025, Types section).
Complications
Symptoms of sickle cell disease are various, and can differ in the seriousness with regard to individuals (Elendu et al., 2023, Introduction and background section, para. 3). Furthermore, the characteristic symptom is repeated episodes of excruciating pain, known as vaso-occlusive crises, which derive from the hindrance of blood flow in small vessels by sickled red blood cells (Kato et al., 2007, as cited in Elendu et al., 2023, Introduction and background section, para. 3). Other common symptoms of sickle cell disease are: anemia, fatigue, and increased proneness to infections (Platt et al., 1994, as cited in Elendu et al., 2023, Introduction and background section, para. 3).
Statistics
In the United States, greater than 90% of people with sickle cell disease are non-Hispanic Black or African American (Black), and an estimated 3%-9% are Hispanic or Latino (CDC, 2024, Sickle cell disease in the United States). Furthermore, sickle cell disease happens in one out of every 16,300 Hispanic American births, and in about one out of every 365 Black or African American births (CDC, 2024, Sickle cell disease in the United States).
Based on a sickle cell disease data collection program that was conducted in the following eleven states: California, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin during the period of 2016 to 2020, the authors of the this cross sectional study showed in their findings the following: 49.6% of the number of newborns with sickle cell disease were male, followed by 48.9% female, and 1.5% were unknown (Kayle et al., 2024, Table 1). Furthermore, 89.9% of the number of newborns with sickle cell disease were African American, followed by 6.0 % other, 4.1 unknown (Kayle et al., 2024, Table 1). Lastly, this sickle cell disease data collection program showed that 77.7% of the number of newborns with sickle cell disease were non-Hispanic, followed by 18.2% unknown, followed by 4.1% were Hispanic or Latino (Kayle et al., 2024, Table 1). Additionally, across the eleven states, the crude sickle cell disease birth prevalence was 4.83 per 10,000 live births (Kayle et al., 2024, Table 2).
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2025, February, 21). About Sickle Cell
Disease. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/sickle-cell/about/index.html
Elendu C, Amaechi DC, Alakwe-Ojimba CE, Elendu TC, Elendu RC, Ayabazu CP, Aina TO,
Aborisade O, Adenikinju JS. Understanding Sickle cell disease: Causes, symptoms, and treatment options. Medicine (Baltimore). 2023 Sep 22;102(38):e35237. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000035237. PMID: 37746969; PMCID: PMC10519513.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, May, 15). Data and Statistics on Sickle
Cell Disease. https://www.cdc.gov/sickle-cell/data/index.html
Kayle M, Blewer AL, Pan W, et al. Birth Prevalence of Sickle Cell Disease and County-Level
Social Vulnerability - Sickle Cell Data Collection Program, 11 States, 2016-2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2024; 73: 248-254. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7312a1
National Cancer Institute (2021). [A scanned electron microscope image of blood cells].
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