Autopsy findings and pattern of mortality in Nigerian sickle cell disease patients.

Introduction: Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) has a high mortality rate in the environment where we practice. There is lack of contemporal autopsy studies describing causes of death among SCD patients at our centre.

Methods: This is a retrospective study of SCD patients who died between January 1991 and December 2008 and that had autopsy examination to confirm the cause of death in a Nigerian teaching hospital.