A simple screening test for the detection of heterozygous beta thalassemia.
Beta-Thalassemia is prevalent in a high frequency of 5-15% in selected geographical areas and ethnic communities. There is need to screen large populations for the heterozygotes of beta-Thalassemia. We have evaluated NESTROFT (Naked eye single tube red cell osmotic fragility test) with 0.36% buffered saline in this study. Of the population screened, 42 cases were positive with NESTROFT, of which 40 were positive with the confirmatory test for beta-Thalassemia. This implies a positive predictive value and specificity of 100%, negative predictive value of 83.3% and sensitivity of 95.2%.
Thool
A A
AA
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi.
Walde
M S
MS
Shrikhande
A V
AV
Talib
V H
VH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006580:Genetic Carrier Screening / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics