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Informative Article | Hematology | India | Volume 13 Issue 2, February 2024
Screening for Hemoglobinopathies in Pregnant Women of Haroti Region: A Guide for Surveillance, Diagnosis and Prevention
Dr. Rajeev Saxena [3] | Dr. Nidhi Agarwal | Dr. Nilima Soni | Dr. Nirmala Sharma | Dr. Neha Seehra
Abstract: Thalassemia is the most common inherited blood disorder in India. Anemia is the major health disease in the world, affecting 24.8% of the world population which corresponds to 1.62 billion people. (1) The average carrier rate of thalassemia in India is 3.3% which differs from 1% to 17 % in different region of country (2). In India the high cost of t/t creates economic burden to the family, therefore screening for the beta - thalassemia is a viable option. With the help of thalassemia screening during the antenatal period followed by prenatal diagnosis, couples ?at risk? can avoid having affected children and are spared from months of anxiety awaiting the outcome of pregnancy. (4, 5) The various methods available for mass population screening are red cells indices and Hemoglobin A2 estimation by HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) (6). Hb A2 estimation is the gold standard for the diagnosis of b - thalassemia trait. Recent studies have used mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) to screen b - thalassemia trait. This study was planned to determine the frequency of carrier status of thalassemia in pregnant females visiting our hospital to identify at risk couples and to prevent birth of new cases of thalassemia major. The study was conducted over 18 months in department of pathology and obstetrics& gynecology, J. K Loan hospital, GMC Kota. Pregnant women in 1st trimester and early second trimester (<16 weeks), who were willing for carrier screening, were screened by hematological indices after an informed consent. Women who attended the antenatal clinics in late second trimester and third trimester or those who did not consent were excluded. In this study, 130 anemic antenatal women are screened for the detection of b - thalassemia, out of which 21 women screened out to be thalassemia trait.
Keywords: Thallassemia, anemia, screening, women, antenatal
Edition: Volume 13 Issue 2, February 2024,
Pages: 1133 - 1136