Recruitment
A total of 149 pregnant women with established diagnosis of SCD were
recruited. This excluded women who were referred with acute
pregnancy-related complications, in active labor, or after delivery, and
those who were unable to comply with the follow-up requirements for
prenatal visits. The diagnosis of SCD was determined by cellulose
acetate hemoglobin electrophoresis at alkaline pH. For the current
analyses, data from 104 pregnant women (HbSS: 40; HbSC: 64) who had
spirometry testing within 2 weeks of enrolment, and followed up for at
least 12 weeks (at least 6 weeks while pregnant and 6 weeks
post-delivery) were included (Figure 1). All study participants received
multi-disciplinary care, described in detail in a previous publication13.