α-Thalassaemia in Cyprus

Abstract

The frequency of α-thalassaemia in Cyprus was determined with studies of haemoglobin Bart's in 1200 Greek Cypriot and 132 Turkish Cypriot newborn babies. Of the Greek newborns, 12.4% and of the Turkish newborns, 6.8% had raised Hb Bart's (from 0.6% to 12.9% of the total haemoglobin) suggesting that they were carriers of either α-thalassaemia-1 or α-thalassaemia-2 genes. The findings suggest that the population of Cyprus has the highest frequencies of α-thalassaemia among Caucasian people.