PRE-MARITAL SCREENING TESTS OF β-THALASSEMIA TRAIT IN DAKSHINA KANNADA POPULATION OF KARNATAKA

Abstract

<p class="Default"><strong>Objective: </strong>β-Thalassemia is one of the familiar single gene disorders which passes from parents to offspring. The prevalence of β-thalassemia trait varies from 1-14% in different regions of India. Every year almost 9000 β-thalassemic major children are being born in the Indian sub-continent. In the present study, the prevalence of β-thalassemia trait was checked and some screening tests were performed to detect it among the Dakshina Kannada population of Karnataka.</p><p class="Default"><strong>Methods: </strong>A total of 800 youngsters were selected for the study, males being above 21 y and females above 18 y. Two ml of blood was drawn and collected in K2 EDTA bottles and complete hemogram was immediately checked. Samples which have Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV)<80 fico litres(fl) were selected for the study. Five discriminant functions were calculated. NESTROFT (Naked Eye Single Tube Red Cell Osmotic Fragility Test) was performed in all the samples. The samples which show positive for NESTROFT and at least 2 discriminant functions were further checked for HbA2 level using cellulose acetate electrophoresis to confirm the β-thalassemia trait. A comparison was made with the normal samples which have MCV ˃ 80fl.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Prevalence of β-thalassemia trait was found to be 5.125 % in this population. The obtained values were analyzed using unpaired Student’s‘t’ test using GraphPad prism (Version-3.0). Samples of β-thalassemia trait have significant changes in the white blood corpuscles (WBC p=0.1266), red blood corpuscles (RBC p=0.0130), hemoglobin (Hb p<0.0001), hematocrit (HCT p<0.0001), MCV(p<0.0001), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH p<0.0001), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC p<0.0001), platelets (PLT p=0.0005), HbA2(p<0.0001) compared to normal controls.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The present study shows that the people with β-thalassemia trait have a significant variation in complete hemogram compared to normal; NESTROFT and discriminant functions can be used for the screening of β-thalassemia trait in the population.</p>