title: [Beta-thalassemia risk in the newborn of the Aosta Valley].
abstract: We have studied the probability that the babies born in the Aosta Valley (North Italy) in 1983-84 were affected with minor and major thalassemia, basing our analysis on the ethnic origin of their grandparents, frequently immigrated from Mediterranean Areas. In a sample of 1599 cases, we have found that these frequencies were 2.16% and 0.025%, with a risk of about one homozygous genotype every 4000 live births. These values, similar to those founded in the industrialized north Italy towns, with the fact that marriages often occur in the same ethnic group, indicate the necessity of screening and prenatal diagnosis programs for thalassemia.
mesh_terms: D006720:Homozygote; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007558:Italy; D008954:Models, Biological; D012306:Risk; D013789:Thalassemia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics
vernacular_title: Il rischio di beta-talassemia nei neonati in Valle d'Aosta.