Priapism in sickle cell anaemia in Senegal: prevalence, attitudes and knowledge

We interviewed 108 sickle cell anaemia patients aged 5 years older on priapism, and 113 healthy subjects in a control group. They were recruited in the out-patient consultation of the two sickle cell anemia care units of the Fann teaching hospital in Dakar. Ten cases of priapism were identified, all in the group of sickle cell patients (the difference is significant, p = 0.004). Prevalence of priapism was 9.3%. Actuarial probability of having priapism was 8.3% by 10 years of age, and 38.9% +/- 5.7 by 20 years of age. Before the interview, only 10.2% of the sickle cell patients and 8% in the control group knew about priapism, and most of them were unaware of its association with sickle cell disease (75% of sickle cell anaemia patients and 80% of control subjects). This lack of information should be improved by an educational program.