Lipid Profile, Nutritional Status and Severity Biomarkers in Adults With Sickle Cell Anemia

Abstract

BACKGROUND Lipid alterations have been described in sickle cell anemia (SCA), but their association with the disease severity is not fully understood and their correlation with the nutritional status of this population has not been widely studied. OBJECTIVES This study aimed to assess the lipid profile and its relation with the nutritional status, including anthropometric characteristics and daily macronutrient intake, and with the severity biomarkers in adults with SCA in a steady state. DESIGN Cross-sectional study METHODS This was an analytical cross-sectional study with 55 adults with SCA and 60 members of the control group. Sociodemographic, anthropometric, nutritional, and laboratory data were collected between March 2019 and June 2020. Mann–Whitney test was used to compare groups and Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to test the relation between variables. RESULTS The SCA group presented higher calorie, protein, and carbohydrate intake, lower levels of high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-c), and a higher triglyceride (TG)/HDL-c ratio than the control. HDL-c showed a positive correlation with hemoglobin and hematocrit (HcT) and a negative correlation with indirect bilirubin and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). The TG/HDL-c ratio was positively linked with reticulocyte count, LDH, and leukocyte count and negatively linked with Hb. CONCLUSIONS The study findings showed hypocholesterolemia in SCA and its independent correlation with macronutrient intake. The links of HDL-c and TG/HDL-c ratio with hemolysis indices indicate that they are easily accessible, low-cost markers capable of predicting SCA severity.