Sickle cell trait in non‐firearm arrest‐related deaths of Black persons

Abstract

The role of sickle cell trait (SCT) in sudden exertional death is well‐recognized in sports and military training. However, it is not yet studied for non‐firearm arrest‐related death (NF‐ARD). With extensive multi‐pronged searches, a large database (n = 1389) of NF‐ARDs was established. For the years 2006–2021 (inclusive) there were 50 NF‐ARDs of Black persons in which postmortem evidence of SCT was found. A control cohort consisted of 414 NF‐ARDs of Black persons with no reported SCT. The mean age for SCT cases was 33.1 ± 10.4 years versus 37.0 ± 10.4 years for the control group (p = 0.01). The body‐mass index for SCT cases was 28.3 ± 6.6 kg/m2 versus 30.7 ± 7.6 kg/m2 for the control group (p = 0.03). The prevalence of cardiomegaly was 21% for SCT cases versus 39% in the control cohort (p = 0.008). The postmortem prevalence of SCT in NF‐ARDs of Black persons (n = 50, 10.7%) was higher than the prevalence of SCT in the US Black population, which is 7.1% (p = 0.003). In this study of NF‐ARDs in Black persons, the prevalence of SCT and the differences between the SCT cases and the control cohort suggest that exertional collapse associated with sickle cell trait may be a contributory factor in NF‐ARDs.