This study provides the first insight into the lifetime survival experience of SS disease patients in Jamaica between 1987 and 1996. It further represents the largest investigation of survival among an SS disease population.

The current study offers precision for survival estimates in SS disease. It highlights the inherent uncertainty of statistical estimates, and is an important reminder that survival summaries should be presented as intervals for which one has a measure of confidence.

We know that important demographic information is similar in the Jamaican and US prospective clinic populations (age at entry to study, length of follow-up). And using the same statistical adjustment to cope with late-entry bias, survival summaries are similar.