Brito, MiguelGinete, CatarinaFerreira, JoanaMendes, ManuelaVasconcelos, JocelyneDelgadinho, MarianaSebastião, CruzQuinto, FranciscoSimão, FernandaMateus, AnabelaFernandes, Filipe2023-08-302023-08-302022-12Brito M, Ginete C, Ferreira J, Mendes M, Vasconcelos J, Fernandes F, et al. Pregnancy surveillance in sickle cell disease patients: a cohort study in an African country – Angola. In: 64th ASH Annual Meeting & Exposition, New Orleans (Louisiana, USA), December 10-13, 2022. Blood. 2022;140 (Suppl 1):5397-8.http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/16432This project is funded by Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Portugal, and by Instituto Camões - Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, I.P.Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a severe monogenic disease caused by the inherence of a recessive mutation in the β-globin gene, with an especially high prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa. In Angola, the prevalence of the disease is almost 2%, and the carriers reach 21% of the population. Although its presentation tends to be very heterogeneous, chronic hemolytic anemia, frequent painful crises, and extensive organ damage are common features of these patients. Pregnancy in SCD patients is associated with an increase in severe outcomes, namely, a high risk of eclampsia and pre-eclampsia, stroke, and even death. Therefore, it is crucial to maintain continuous medical surveillance during pregnancy, especially in women with previous strokes. Moreover, health services in low- and middle-income countries are generally not prepared to follow these patients. The present cohort study, conducted at the Lucrecia Paim Maternity Hospital (Luanda, Angola), aims to determine pregnancy complications in SCD women, especially those responsible for maternal death, and, by supporting the obstetric consultations in this hospital, contribute to the reduction of mortality and morbidity rates. Pregnancy monitoring includes analysis of clinical history and incidents (number of hospitalizations, blood transfusions, strokes, and other clinical complications), hematological and biochemical analysis, transcranial Doppler to assess cerebral hemodynamics, and genetic analysis (confirmation of the diagnosis, genotyping of four SNPs in the β-cluster to assess the haplotype, and evaluation of the presence of the 3.7kb deletion of the α-globin gene).engSickle cell diseasePregnancyAngolaconference object10.1182/blood-2022-159681