Premium
Community‐initiated screening programme for beta‐thalassaemia trait
Author(s) -
Berdoukas Vasilios A.,
Webster Boyd H.,
Raddatz Birgid
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1983.tb122362.x
Subject(s) - mean corpuscular volume , trait , beta (programming language) , beta thalassaemia , medicine , demography , hematocrit , thalassemia , sociology , computer science , programming language
Seven hundred and ninety‐five people, (96% of whom were of Greek origin) were screened for thalassaemia trait. A prevalence rate of 7.1 % for beta‐ thalassaemia carriers was found. The red cells of in‐dividuals with the alpha‐1‐thalassaemia, beta‐ thalassaemia, and haemoglobin Lepore traits all had a mean corpuscular volume (MCV) of less than 76 fL and a mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) of less than 25 pg, thus confirming the usefulness of these indices as a preliminary thalassaemia screening test. However, in three of the six people provisionally diagnosed as having delta‐beta‐thalassaemia trait, an overlap of MCV and MCH values with the normal range occurred. Community attitudes to the survey and its implications are discussed.