MINNEAPOLIS — Advocates for people with sickle cell disease are criticizing Minnesota’s lack of care, saying the number of related deaths in the state is unclear because officials don’t track adult cases.

The advocates also say adult cases are climbing to crisis levels as more West Africans and African-Americans move to Minnesota, which has no adult sickle cell clinics or hematologists specializing in the disease, Minnesota Public Radio News reported.

“I feel we’ve reached an emergency status,” said Dr. Stephen Nelson, a pediatric hematologist who runs the sickle cell program at Children’s Minnesota Hospital in Minneapolis. “We’re now seeing the peak time when patients are dying is between 18 and 25.”

Sickle cell occurs when misshapen red blood cells block blood vessels, causing pain and life-threatening conditions, like kidney failure and stroke.

Nelson, who is white, said he believes race is the primary reason sickle cell receives so little attention and medical resources.

“Minnesota is routinely at the top for health care outcomes but the subtext is for white Minnesotans because when you look at outcomes for Minnesotans of color, we are close to the bottom if not No. 50,” Nelson said.