title: Could Heterozygous Beta Thalassemia Provide Protection Against Multiple Sclerosis?
abstract: BACKGROUND Heterozygous beta thalassemia (HBT) has been proposed to increase the risk of developing autoimmune disease. Our aim in this study was to examine the prevalence of HBT among multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS HBT frequency was investigated in our MS group (243 patients with MS). Hemoglobin electrophoresis (HE) was carried out if MS patients had a mean corpuscular volume of (MCV) <80 fL and a mean corpuscular hemoglobin level of (MCH) <27 pg/L according to a complete blood count (CBC). If MCV was lower than 80 fL, MCH was lower than 27 pg/L, and Hemoglobin A2 equal to or higher than 3.5%, a diagnosis of HBT was established. The frequency of patients with HBT in our MS patient group was statistically compared with the prevalence of HBT in the city of Istanbul, where our MS patients lived. RESULTS The HBT prevalence was 0.823% (2 patients) in the MS patient group. The prevalence of HBT in Istanbul has been reported to be 4.5%. According to the z-test, the HBT prevalence in our MS patient group was significantly lower than that in Istanbul (Z=6.3611, two-sided p value <0.0001, 95% confidence interval of prevalence of HBT in our MS patient group: 0.000998-0.029413). CONCLUSIONS Contrary to our hypothesis at the outset of study, the reduced HBT prevalence in the MS group compared to HBT frequency in the city of Istanbul might indicate that HBT is protective against MS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Bezmialem Vakif University, Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Cikrikcioglu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Biruni University, Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Muhammed Emin
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Ozcan
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Bezmialem Vakif University, Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gulistan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Halac
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Bezmialem Vakif University, Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ilhami
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gultepe
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Bezmialem Vakif University, Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Kenan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Celik
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Eskisehir Military Hospital, Eskisehir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Yahya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sekin
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Bezmialem Vakif University, Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Elif Ece
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Eser
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Bezmialem Vakif University, Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sebnem
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Burhan
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, Bezmialem Vakif University, Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Guven
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cetin
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Bezmialem Vakif University, Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Uysal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004909:Erythrocyte Indices; D005260:Female; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D015995:Prevalence; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology