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Hemoglobin
international journal for hemoglobin research
Volume 46, 2022 - Issue 2
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Brief Communications

Hemoglobinopathies and COVID-19: The Experience of a Center in Northern Greece

ORCID Icon, , , , , ORCID Icon & show all
Pages 143-145 | Received 15 Jun 2021, Accepted 10 Aug 2021, Published online: 13 Sep 2022
 

Abstract

Healthcare systems around the globe are still facing the evolving threat of the coronavavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. Hemoglobinopathies include a group of genetic disorders, with the two main entities being thalassemias and sickle cell disease. Due to their immunocompromised status, such patients have been protected as extremely vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. We studied patients with different hemoglobinopathies, consecutively monitored at our center, who were infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) during the second and third waves of the pandemic in Greece (September 2020–April 2021), and associated the outcomes of the infection with the following factors: age, employment, blood type, liver and heart hemosiderosis, splenectomy, concomitant endocrine disorders and transfusion dependency. Among 250 patients monitored at our center, 14 were infected with COVID-19. Nine of them were hospitalized but no one required intensive care unit support and all of them responded to the generally applied treatment plan, despite their comorbidities. Notwithstanding the slightly increased prevalence of COVID-19 in patients with hemoglobinopathies compared to the general population, self-applied measures are still thought to be effective, as our patients got infected through their already sick family members.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

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