Abstract
Background
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is one of the most common monogenic disorders in the world. Patients with SCD have chronic hemolytic anemia and experience episodic pain due to vaso-occlusion resulting in, amongst other, musculoskeletal and cardiopulmonary complications. We hypothesize that adults with SCD are less physically active, but limited information is available on the movement behavior of adults with SCD. In the current study, we aimed to evaluate movement behavior in patients with SCD as compared to healthy controls.
Methods
Movement behavior of patients with SCD (≥16 years) was prospectively collected in two University Medical Centers in the Netherlands. Movement behavior was measured for seven consecutive days with an accelerometer (Activ8), distinguishing between lying/non-wear, sitting, walking, running, and biking. Time spent on activities was compared between patients with SCD and healthy adults with a migration background and between HbSS/HbSβ0 and HbSC/Hbβ+using the Man-Whitney U test. To adjust for multiple testing, season, sex, and age, a linear regression for each activity was performed.