TY - JOUR T1 - Pica in sickle cell disease: “She ate the headboard” JF - Archives of Disease in Childhood JO - Arch Dis Child SP - 510 LP - 510 DO - 10.1136/adc.85.6.510c VL - 85 IS - 6 AU - M ROBERTS-HAREWOOD AU - S C DAVIES Y1 - 2001/12/01 UR - http://adc.bmj.com/content/85/6/510.5.abstract N2 - Editor,—Within our sickle cell population, there are a small number of school aged children who eat sponge. Knowing that pica—the compulsive ingestion of non-nutritive substances—is more common in tropical countries where cultural and dietary factors play a role, it may not be a surprising finding. However geophagia (soil), pagophagia (ice), and trichophagia (hair) are the commonest substances eaten. We cannot explain the predilection for sponge … ER -