Clinical severity and blood rheology in patients with sickle cell anaemia and co‐existing autoimmune disease.

It is of note that, despite the fact that eight of the 15 patients with SCA with AID received anti-inflammatory and/or immunosuppressant/immunomodulatory drugs, they still had a greater inflammatory level than patients without AID. Indeed, the greater inflammatory state caused by the presence of AID in patients with SCA, as shown by the greater CRP level and WBC count, would be the cause of the increased fibrinogen level and, thus, RBC aggregation. RBC aggregation is known to strongly modulate blood viscosity at low shear rates.[12] Indeed, the increased blood viscosity at the lowest shear rate found in patients with AID would be due to the greater RBC aggregation compared to the Control group. [Extracted from the article]