Did you know that you can be at risk of sickle cell anemia? Yes, there are risk factors that can likely tell whether or not you are at risk of obtaining such dreadful disease. Since it is an inherited abnormality, individuals with family history on sickle cell trait are obviously at risk.

Most likely, the disease is likely to develop in a child whose parents are carriers of sickle cell trait. The probability of acquiring the disease is not that strong, though. As a matter of fact, there is only 25% chance of obtaining the disease. Fair enough, there is also 25% chance of non-inheritance of the disease. Nonetheless, there is 50% chance of inheriting the trait alone.

Sickle cell anemia is common to some races. Based on studies, it is common to those with African, South American, and European roots. In America, over 70,000 of patients diagnosed with sickle cell disease are from African ancestry.  One out of every 500 African-American infants is likely to be a carrier of the disease.