TITLE:
Body Composition in Sickle Cell Disease Patients in the Steady State
AUTHORS:
Mame Saloum Coly, Mouhamadou Mansour Diagne, Jean Fidele Nnang Essone, Abdou Khadir Sow, Salimata Diagne Houndjo, Maimouna Toure, Aïssatou Seck, Awa Ba, Abdoulaye Ba, Abdoulaye Samb, Moussa Seck, Saliou Diop, Mor Diaw, Fatou Bintou Sar, Arame Mbengue
KEYWORDS:
Sickle Cell Disease, Body Composition, Physical Activity
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Molecular and Integrative Physiology,
Vol.14 No.2,
May
31,
2024
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Previous studies in sickle cell disease (SCD) patients have demonstrated low muscle mass (MM) and high fat mass (FM) percentages compared to individuals with normal hemoglobin. The relationship between the evolutions of body composition (BC) parameters in the active SCD population is not well elucidated. The aim of the present study was to assess the body composition in active adult SCD patients in sub-Saharan Africa during the inter-critical period. Methodology: We conducted a descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study over an 8-month period. Eighteen SCD patients (sex ratio = 1) reported regular physical activity (RPA) corresponding to level 3 (RPA of moderate intensity) of the 4-level Saltin-Grimby physical activity scale were recruited. Anthropometric and BC parameters such as BMI, percentage FM and percentage MM were evaluated using an impedance meter. Results: The study population had a mean age of 26 ± 7 years and a mean BMI of 20.5 ± 1.9 kg/m2. We found a significantly higher percentage of FM in women compared to the men (25.6% ± 10.2% vs 11.1% ± 2.1%; p = 0.001). For the proportion of MM, all the women had a normal percentage. The men mostly had high levels of MM compared with reference norms. Men had significantly greater MM percentages than women (45.4% ± 1.8% vs. 26.5% ± 1.4%; p Conclusion: RPA appears to have positive effects on BC in active population with SCD, and a greater-than-expected effect was observed on MM in male patients. Promoting regular, adapted physical activity would be a promising way of improving BC parameters and quality of life in the SCD population. Further studies with larger cohorts will be needed to better substantiate these results.