A STUDY ON OCCURRENCE OF THALASSEMIA AND HEMOGLOBINOPATHIES IN ANTENATAL, PREMARITAL AND POST MARTIAL SCREENING IN THE DISTRICT OF MALDA, WEST BENGAL

Tanushree Ghosal; Arindam Karmakar

Volume : VIII, Issue : V, May - 2019

A STUDY ON OCCURRENCE OF THALASSEMIA AND HEMOGLOBINOPATHIES IN ANTENATAL, PREMARITAL AND POST MARTIAL SCREENING IN THE DISTRICT OF MALDA, WEST BENGAL

Tanushree Ghosal, Arindam Karmakar

Abstract :

Background: Thalassemia and other hemoglobinopathies continue to be a major public health problem in the state of West Bengal. There is significant regional variation of prevalence of hemoglobin disorders in different regions. Aims & Objectives: The present study was conducted to find the occurrence of different types of hemoglobinopathies amongst the people undergoing screening in the district of Malda with a special emphasis on the relative occurrence in different ethnic populations. Methodology: This research work was conducted at the thalassemia clinic and hematology laboratory of Malda Medical College and Hospital among antenatal mothers (antenatal screening), married couples (post marital screening) and children and young unmarried people (premarital screening) of Malda district. Hemoglobin analysis was done by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Results: Overall, 8.7 % participants were found to be having hemoglobin abnormalities. Hemoglobin E trait was the commonest hemoglobinopathy identified, comprising 5.5% of the cases. This was followed by β Thalassemia trait (2.4%), HbE homozygous (0.3%), HbS trait (0.3%), Hemoglobin Eβ (0.1%) and hemoglobin ES (0.1%) compound heterozygotes. Conclusion: This data reflects the importance of complete screening of the population for thalassemia and hemoglobinopathies to prevent birth of diseased children by genetic counseling.