Incidence of sickle cell disease in an unselected cohort of neonates born in Berlin, Germany

Abstract

Sickle cell disease (SCD) does not occur in the indigenous German population. However, with the increasing numbers of immigrants its prevalence is steadily rising. Nevertheless, robust epidemiological data is not available for Germany and, consequently, the German newborn screening (NBS) program does not include SCD. Between 1 September 2011 and 30 November 2012, an unselected cohort of 34,084 Berlin newborns was tested for SCD. The results of 14 newborns were consistent with SCD and 265 babies were identified as hemoglobin S (Hb S) carriers. These data indicate a 95% probability that the incidence of SCD in Berlin is at least 2.5/10,000.

Figure 1

Patient enrollment and reasons for drop-out. Most reasons are self-explanatory. ‘Inappropriate material' refers virtually exclusively to samples with advanced degradation of hemoglobin resulting in the error-message ‘low area' on the HPLC machine.