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Jayla Starks

Ms. Trotter

ENG 1201

21 March 2021

Sickle Cell Anemia In Children

Many African American children are born with Sickle cell anemia. Sickle cell is when

your body doesn’t have enough red blood cells in their body. With this, the blood cells aren’t

shaped like circles. They are shaped like “crescent moons” or like “an old farmers tool called a

sickle”, hence the name (Miller). Many children develop a delay in growth due to this the

disease. As a result, why is sickle cell anemia hard on children's kidneys and what causes the

trait to become deadly in the youth? What causes such a big delay growth in their childhood?

Sickle cell anemia is when the body doesn’t have enough red blood cells to carry iron and

oxygen throughout the body. The cells, instead of being circular are shaped just like moon

crescent. The danger with the shape of the cell is the cells edges. The edges become sharp

causing blood vessels to get blocked. With this, not only are your cells already struggling with

carrying enough oxygen and iron, but it begins clogging their system up allowing nothing

important to get through. SCD is commonly found in African Americans and hispanics, mainly

being diagnosed as children. While only “eight percent of African American children have sickle

cell” (CDC), there is a strong 42% of children who have suffered from sickle cell alone. Many

offspring are diagnosed at birth due to a parent carrying the trait of SCD. When the newborn is

tested, they draw blood to see if the trait is carried over. However, outside of blood testing,

children within the “age range of five months to three years old can start to reveal symptoms”

(CDC; Miller). Keeping in mind everyone’s body reacts differently.

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Children with SCD have to take more precautions while their bodies are still growing.

Red blood cells play a huge role during puberty and growth. Your body is required to receive

certain amounts of nutrients in order to grow properly. A delay in children’s growth can be a

result of not receiving enough nutrients. Red blood cells transport your body with the oxygen and

nutrients needed for growth. “A shortage of healthy red blood cells can slow growth in infants

and children and delay puberty in teens” (Mayo Clinic). Along with this delay, a lot of pressure

is put on a child's body. This chronic illness causes different issues within the inner parts of the

body.

This issues can consist of; “Renal complications include altered haemodynamics,

hypertrophy, chronic kidney disease, acute kidney injury, impaired urinary concentrating ability,

and increased risks of urinary tract infection.” (Nath and Hebbel) Not every child diagnosed with

sickle cell will experience these complications, but they are the more common tracked

complications. Chronic kidney disease is the most reported diagnoses with tracing reasons back

to sickle cell. These complications affect many children with this anemia. First, chronic kidney

disease. This disease doesn’t usually have symptoms associated with them. They test you

through multiple blood test. Chronic kidney injury causes your waste to build up and they stop

functioning correctly. The kidneys are in charge of filtering waste out of your body while also

filtering fluid from your bloodstream.

Sickle cell becomes hard on children's kidneys due to the lack of fluid in the blood. When

the cell shape closes off the blood vessel, no fluid is going through, which means no supplements

are being processed. This causes issues such as: nutrient deficiency, no source of iron or oxygen,

and also the delay majority of the time does not allow their bodies to make a full recovery.

Another kidney disease that is affected by sickle cell would be “acute kidney disease” or, also
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known as, “acute kidney failure”. (Nath and Hebbel) People who are already chronically ill are

more susceptible to this. The kidneys stop doing their job and they end up shutting down and

failing. This causes the body to not be able to filter waste out and it can turn fatal in many

causes. Starting out, their bodies are delayed in growth causing them to be more inclined to

negative responses to a common illnesses. Second, the main idea with both diseases is that blood

is not being transferred correctly. “So when certain organs, such as the kidneys, can’t receive

enough blood circulation to do their job they shut down and stop performing the correct function

it was made for” (Texas Children’s Hospital). Not only do these two play a part in this situation,

but also with their body’s size and height. The body isn’t ready to stop growth to focus on

fighting off big organ failures, and high-risk illnesses. Sickle cell makes their immune system

break down slowly not being able to fight off another health condition, making the body

vulnerable.

All this information is based off of these five articles, all the articles agree and give the

same in detail information stated above. Many talk about the growth delay, kidney failure, and

how having SCD can cause other struggles in the body. The agreed positions with these disease

are common and basic information, but they also give an in depth “doctor description” if you

choose to research it fully. The articles support one another and prescribe a lot of value in this

topic. When reading a compilation of articles there is always a misconception with opinions and

different points of view. To define point of view, that means the myths of this disease. These

misconceptions are talked about when reading and analyzing the articles.

The first Misconception talks about SCD patients being drug addicts. One of the article

provides information on overdoses that have been proven wrong. The pain associated with sickle

cell is so great that many people are given higher doses of narcotics in order to to ease the pain.
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With this a myth arose stating that sickle cell anemia patients are drug addicts, which is just not

the case. Another misconception, which also could be consider a disagreement, is that the sickle

cell trait is a mild form of sickle cell disease. That was mentioned in two out of the five essays.

The trait carried is “generally an asymptomatic carrier state” (Mayo Clinic). A common mistake

among all the websites articles. However, the sources are correct, information can be mixed up

and not sorted correctly. In conclusion, These articles were published well and gave great

information in order to discuss advantages and disadvantages, while also giving important

information to a deeper conversation. Even with myths and some sort os disagreements, the

information laid out provides a great review over the disease of sickle cell.
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Works Cited

“Data & Statistics on Sickle Cell Disease.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 Dec. 2020,

www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/sicklecell/data.html. March 17.

“Delay in Growth and Puberty in Children with Sickle Cell Disease.” Delay in Growth and

Puberty in Children with Sickle Cell Disease | Texas Children's Hospital, 1998,

www.texaschildrens.org/health/delay-growth-and-puberty-children-sickle-cell-disease#:~:text=C

hildren%20with%20sickle%20cell%20disease%20usually%20grow%20and%20develop%20mor

e,thinner%20than%20the%20general%20population. March 17.

Harris, Yvette R, and James A. Graham. The African American Child: Development and

Challenges. New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2014. Internet resource. March

18.

Nath, Karl A, and Robert P Hebbel. “Sickle Cell Disease: Renal Manifestations and

Mechanisms.” Nature Reviews. Nephrology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Mar.

2015. March 18.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4701210/#:~:text=Renal%20complications%20

and%20involvement%20in,of%20urinary%20tract%20infections%20and.

“Sickle Cell Anemia.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 30

Jan. 2020,
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www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sickle-cell-anemia/symptoms-causes/syc-20355

876?_ga=2.60497896.4973973.1615907974-218096924.1612455360. March 18.

“Sickle Cell Disease (for Kids) - Nemours KidsHealth.” Edited by Robin E. Miller, KidsHealth,

The Nemours Foundation, July 2018, kidshealth.org/en/kids/sickle-cell.html. March 19.