Guidance

Sickle cell carrier: description in brief

Information for pregnant women to understand what it means to be a sickle cell carrier.

• From: NHS England
• Published: 1 January 2012
• Last updated: 5 March 2026
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  1. 5 March 2026

     Replaced text on landing page (‘Refer to how to print digital leaflets if you need to provide a copy of this guidance for someone who cannot access the internet’) with ‘To request another format, you can phone 0300 311 22 33 or email england.contactus@nhs.net.’

  2. 5 February 2025

     Updated NHS England contact information

  3. 2 October 2020

     Updated and reformatted as HTML.

  4. 19 April 2018

     Updated leaflet with new statement on use of personal data and copyright.

  5. 1 January 2012

     First published.

Documents

Your antenatal blood test result: you are a sickle cell carrier

HTML

Details

A blood test can identify adults who carry the gene for sickle cell.

This publication explains about being a carrier and how this can affect an adult and their family.

It explains:

• what a sickle cell carrier is
• possible conditions children could inherit from a carrier
• genetic inheritance for haemoglobin disorders
• what the result means for other people in the family

To request another format, you can phone 0300 311 22 33 or email england.contactus@nhs.net.