Helvaci, Mehmet RamiSahan, MustafaSulhan, AgitAcik, Abdullah FatihOcak, AdilSalaz, SemihPocock, Lesley2024-09-182024-09-1820161839-01881839-0196https://doi.org/10.5742/MEWFM.2015.92797https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12483/12251Background: Sickle cell diseases (SCDs) are chronic destructive processes mainly on the capillary endothelium. We tried to understand the significance of digital clubbing in severity of SCDs. Methods: All patients with SCDs were taken into the study. Results: The study included 397 patients (193 females). There were 36 cases (9.0%) with digital clubbing. Male ratio was significantly higher in the digital clubbing group (66.6% versus 49.8%, p<0.05). The mean age was significantly higher in the digital clubbing group, too (36.5 versus 29.0 years, p=0.000). Additionally, smoking was also higher in the digital clubbing group, significantly (30.5% versus 11.0%, p<0.001). The mean white blood cell counts of peripheric blood were similar in both groups (p<0.05). On the other hand, the mean hematocrit value and platelet count of peripheric blood were lower in the digital clubbing group, significantly (p=0.001 and p=0.012, respectively). Beside that, prevalence of leg ulcers, pulmonary hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary heart disease, cirrhosis, and stroke were significantly higher in the digital clubbing group (p<0.01 for all). There were 25 mortalities during the period, and 13 of them were males. The mean ages of mortality were 33.0 +/- 9.6 (range 1947) in females and 30.0 +/- 8.6 years (range 19-50) in males. Conclusion: SCDs are chronic destructive processes on endothelium particularly at the capillary level, and terminate with accelerated atherosclerosis induced end-organ failures in early years of life. Probably digital clubbing is one of the terminal consequences of the SCDs indicating significantly shortened survival in such patients.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessSickle cell diseasesdigital clubbingchronic capillary damageaccelerated atherosclerosismetabolic syndromeArticle143101610.5742/MEWFM.2015.92797WOS:000385846400003N/A