These findings enhance understanding of the reproductive experiences in people with SCD and SCT and provide the groundwork for developing an educational intervention focused on making informed decisions about becoming a parent.
The situation with SCT is different; there will continue to be the identification of parents who have the potential for having a child with a sickle cell disease but because they will not be tested or counseled, there will continue to be a population of children with a sickle cell disease whose parents have not been enabled to make informed decisions that they believe are in their best interest relative to family planning.
These findings suggest that common α- and β-globin variants interact to influence hematologic and clinical phenotypes in African Americans, with potential implications for risk-stratification and counseling of individuals with SCD and SCT.