Table 3.

Demographic and clinical characteristics of sickle cell children at 12 months of follow-up, before the implementation of sickle cell management recommendations (n = 143)

Variable	Median (IQR 25–75%)	n	%
Age	10 (IQR: 6–15 years)
Age at diagnosis	2 (IQR: 1–5 years)
	Before 1 year	53	37
	Between 1 and 5 years old	55	39
	Between 5 and 10 years old	22	15
	After 10 years	13	9
Sex	Female	62	43
Schooling	Yes	99	69
Z-score weight-for-height less than −2SD	Yes	67	47
Mode of the first diagnosis	Clinical	62	43
	Electrophoresis of Hb	44	31
	Emmel test	37	26
Circumstances of the first diagnosis	Vaso-occlusive crisis	94	66
	Anemia	25	18
	Screening at the time of inclusion	14	10
	Fever	8	6
	Jaundice	2	1
	Neonatal screening	0	0
Confirmation of diagnosis by isoelectrofocusing	Yes	143	100
Chronic complications	Yes	31	22
Type of complications	Hip arthritis	13	11
	Stroke	7	5
	Right eye blindness	1	1
	Osteomyelitis	4	3
	Leg ulcer	3	2
	Other	3	2
Reasons for hospitalizations	Vaso-occlusive crisis	45	31
	Infectious episodes	34	24
	Anemia/blood transfusion	24	17
	Other causes	40	28
Presence of hepatomegaly	Yes	86	60
Presence of jaundice	Yes	126	88
Presence of splenomegaly	Yes	98	69
Spleen measurement (according to Hackett’s grade)	H0	45	31
	H1	16	11
	H2	34	24
	H3	24	17
	H4	15	10
	H5	9	6

IQR interquartile range, Hackett’s grade H0, non-palpable spleen, even in deep inspiration, H1 Spleen palpable only on deep inspiration, H2 Spleen palpable on mid-clavicular line, halfway between umbilicus and costal margin, H3 The spleen expands towards the umbilicus, h4 spleen descending below the navel, exceeding the line passing between the umbilicus and the pubic symphysis, H5 spleen extending lower than class H4