What is the prognosis for sickle cell disease?
Sickle cell disease is characteristically variable between and within affected individuals. Predicting the course of the disorder based solely on genes is not possible. Several factors aside from genetic inheritance determine the prognosis for affected individuals, including the frequency, severity, and nature of specific complications in any given individual. The availability and access of comprehensive medical care also plays an important role in preventing and treating serious, acute complications, which cause the majority of sickle cell-related deaths. For those individuals who do not experience such acute events, life expectancy is probably substantially greater than the average for all people with sickle cell disease. The impact of recent medical advances supports the hypothesis that current life expectancies may be significantly greater than those estimated in the early 1990s. At that time, individuals with SS disease lived to the early- to mid-40s, and those with SC disease liv
