Peripheral Blood Smear as a Diagnostic Tool for Sickle Cell Disease in a Resource Limited Setting

Purpose: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the most common hereditary hematologic disorder worldwide with greater than 90% of SCD births occurring in low resource settings including sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The gold standard for diagnosing SCD is hemoglobin electrophoresis but it is often unaffordable or unavailable in low resource settings that have the highest burden of SCD. Instead, cheaper tests such as a peripheral blood smear (PBS) have been used to diagnose SCD. However, few studies have been conducted to assess the validity of a PBS as a diagnostic tool for SCD. …