Background: Sickle cell anaemia is responsible for one of the largest mortality rates in Africa, it is also associated with several complications including physical, systemic, endothelial, and haematological disorders.
Objective: To evaluate changes in physical and haematological profile of steady state sickle cell anaemia subjects six weeks post oral administration of 1000mg L-arginine supplement.
Methods: Eighty participants were recruited into the study. 40 steady state sickle cell patients from Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso (LTH), haematology clinics and 40 healthy control subjects. Physical characteristic was recorded, blood samples of participants were also taken before and after six weeks administration of 1000mg oral L-arginine supplement. Full blood test was conducted pre and post administration. All data were analyzed using GraphPad prism version 8 with p<0.05 set as statistically significant value.
Results: Age 18-25 years old and 26-33 years old were the majority age range representing 80% of the participants in this study while the remaining 20% were above 34 years old. Forty four were females and 36 were males. Steady state HbSS participants had significantly
lower body weight and BMI (45.30.30±1.40kg and 20.91±0.69kg/m2 , respectively with p=0.001). Hb conc. significantly increased post-supplementation in HbSS group (7.93 to 11.72 g/dL), p=0.0001), Red blood cell (RBC) count decreased in HbSS post-supplementation (3.74 to 3.12 ×10¹²/L), and white cell count (WBC) increased significantly in HbSS post-supplementation (p = 0.0001).
Conclusion: Oral dose of 1000mg L-Arginine supplement improved the physical condition and haematological profile of steady state sickle cell anaemia subject through increased NO availability to enhance erythropoiesis and improved immune response.
