Screening of hemoglobin disorders in referral cases to the hospital's laboratory in Northeast Iran

Abstract

Determining the frequencies of hemoglobin disorders in referral cases to the hospital's laboratory for designing the best program for prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of these disorders. Hemoglobin electrophoresis and CBC were performed on 6033 cases referred to Imam Reza hospital, Mashhad, Iran from 2004 to 2009. Normal and abnormal electrophoretic patterns were identified in 77.55% (4679 cases) and 22.44% (1354 cases), respectively. The most common hemoglobin disorders, in order of frequency, were ß-thalassemia minor (19.44%), Hb D (1.63%), Hb S (0.38%), thalassemia intermedia to major (0.24%), thalassemia major (0.23%), δß0-thalassemia (heterozygous) (0.18%), hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin (heterozygous) (0.1%), Hb H (0.1%), Hb C,E or O (0.07%), HbLepor (heterozygous) (0.03%), Hb D/ß+-thalassemia (0.02%) and Hb S/ß+-thalassemia (0.02%). Based on our study hemoglobin disorders are a common problem in this region as the abnormal results in electrophoresis were observed in the 22.44% of individuals. These results show the importance of a premarital screening program for hemoglobin disorders in this geographic area.