title: Prevalence of thalassemia and hemoglobinopathy in eastern India: A 10-year high-performance liquid chromatography study of 119,336 cases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hereditary hemoglobin (Hb) disorders are the most commonly encountered single gene disorders in India. Proper timely identification of these disorders is of paramount importance to prevent thalassemia major and clinically severe hemoglobinopathy as well as for epidemiologic purposes.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Our aim was to determine the prevalence of thalassemia and hemoglobinopathy in patients of a tertiary care hospital of West Bengal, India.
  
  
  METHODS
  This prospective study was conducted on 119,336 cases over a period of 10 years. After taking clinical history and familial history, complete hemogram report was obtained by an automated cell counter. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was performed on the samples with Bio-Rad Variant using beta thalassemia short program. Confirmatory tests were performed whenever required.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A normal Hb pattern was observed in 104,804 (87.83%) cases and abnormalities were detected in 14,532 (12.17%) patients. β (beta) thalassemia trait was the commonest abnormality found in 5,488 (4.60%) patients. HbE trait was found in 3,604 (3.02%) patients, β thalassemia major/intermedia in 1,981 (1.66%) cases, and Eβ thalassemia in 1,384 (1.16 %) cases. Other variants detected included HbE disease, sickle-cell disease, sickle β thalassemia, HbD-Punjab trait, HbQ-India trait, α-thal trait, double heterozygous state of HbS and HbE, double heterozygous state of HbS and HbD, HbJ-Meerut, hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin (HPFH), HbH, delta β-thal trait, and Hb Lepore.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In view of the high prevalence of hemoglobinopathy in this region, a routine premarital screening program is needed for the identification and prevention of high-risk marriages and thus, prevention of the psychosocial trauma of bearing a transfusion-dependent child for life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Bankura Sammilani Medical College, Bankura, India.
authors.forename: Santosh Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Mondal
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Medical College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Saikat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mandal
keywords: Hemoglobinopathy; high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); thalassemia