Stroke in Nigerian children with sickle cell disease.

We reviewed our records over a 15-year period to determine whether or not the impression that stroke complicating sickle cell disease was less common than reported in North America. Records of children aged 16 years and below with a diagnosis of stroke seen at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria between 1988 and 2002 were examined. Thirty-nine such patients were identified but only 31 had detailed records available for study. Twenty-seven of these had sickle cell disease, 26 with haemoglobin genotype SS and 1 with Hb S+C. Sickle cell disease was therefore responsible for 87% of stroke seen in children at our centre. With an average clinic population of about 500 patients with sickle cell disease, the hospital frequency of stroke among these patients is estimated at 5.4%. The mean age of occurrence of the first stroke was 6.8 years ranging from 17 months to 11 years. Of the 7 patients who had CT scans of the brain done, 5 had evidence of cerebral infarction while 2 had intracerebral haemorrhage. While only 2 deaths occurred among the cases reviewed, morbidity was significant with only 6 patients achieving complete recovery. Recurrent stroke occurred after an average of 25.6 months in 8 of 13 patients who were followed up (61.5%). The incidence of stroke among African children with sickle cell disease appears to be not as high as reported in patients from North America.