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BACKGROUND: Studies in Ghana show a high percentage of the population having the sickle cell trait. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of the sickle cell trait among blood donors in the Ho Teaching Hospital.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was a prospective cross-sectional study where two hundred and seventy-two blood samples were obtained from donors by convenience sampling from December 2018 to January 2019, and analyzed to determine their sickling status and haemoglobin genotypes at the blood bank of the Ho Teaching Hospital. A structured questionnaire was administered to get the demographics of participants and other relevant information. The data was entered into Microsoft Excel 2016 and analyzed using graph pad prism.
RESULTS: Out of the 272 donors sampled for the study, 35(12.87%) tested positive for sickling and had HB genotype AS, with those in the age bracket, 31-40, having the highest prevalence. Among the participants who tested negative for sickling, 216(79.41%) and 21(7.72%) had HB genotypes AA and AC respectively. The study also revealed majority of the donors had no knowledge on their sickling status/HB genotype.
CONCLUSION: Due to the high prevalence of the Sickle Cell Trait (SCT) among donors in the municipality, screening for haemoglobin S should be made routine to ensure that high risk patients are not transfused with such blood units.
