Comment on “The association of sickle cell disorder with adverse outcomes in COVID‐19 patients: A meta‐analysis”

Abstract

Dear Editor, Liang et al. conducted an important and timely meta-analysis examining the risk of adverse coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) and sickle cell trait. 1 They synthesized data across 21 studies and found significantly increased risks of mortality, hospitalization, and intensive care unit (ICU) admission among SCD patients with COVID-19. 1 Increased risks of mortality and hospitalization were also observed for sickle cell traits. Understanding the impact of hematologic conditions, such as SCD, on COVID-19 outcomes is crucial for informing clinical practice and public health policies. The analysis by Liang et al. 1 provided evidence that patients with SCD are particularly vulnerable during the pandemic. The authors should be congratulated for their efforts to characterize the risk and fill the knowledge gaps around COVID-19 and SCD.However, we wish to emphasize a significant issue that could enhance the comprehensiveness of the study by Liang et al. 1 The authors found that SCD significantly increased the risk of hospitalization (pooled odds ratio: 6.21) compared with other outcomes such as mortality (pooled odds ratio: 1.7) and intensive care unit (ICU) admission (pooled odds ratio: 2.29). 1 This highlights that hospitaliza-