CSIR-CCMB develops India-specific severity scores ISS1 and ISS2 for sickle cell anaemia, beating the Western PSS in a 171-patient study

Researchers at the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, working with clinicians of the Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur, have developed two India-specific clinical severity scores for sickle cell anaemia (SCA), ISS1 and ISS2, because the Western-derived Pediatric Severity Score (PSS) classified Indian children poorly. In a cohort of 171 patients aged 0-18 years, ISS1 and ISS2 matched expert paediatricians' grading in 82.75% and 85.10% of cases against 66.67% for PSS. The work, led by Suraj S. Nongmaithem and Giriraj R. Chandak, is a preprint posted on medRxiv on 9 October 2025 and had not been peer-reviewed or published in a journal when last checked; it was reported on 3 October 2026 in the context of the National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission.