Abstract :
Background: Thalassemic patients live a prolonged life in the light of breakthrough of treatment options
and early diagnosis, and therefore it is a matter of interest and importance to have a successful reproductive
outcome in such patients. Having a child is the dream and readiness of being pregnant is the inclination of
not only Thalassemia intermedia patients but also females suffering from Thalassemia major. Thalassemia
is an incurable disease till now and producing thalassemia children only enhances the disease burden
both for the society and family. This augments the need of successful and early screening thalassemic
pregnancies and counseling them for the possible outcomes.
Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted in 460 pregnant Females attending OPD of
SGRDIMSAR, Sri Amritsar. Samples were taken after informed consent and processed for Complete Blood
Count and Hemoglobin Fractionation using HPLC by Borad.
Results: Most of the females had hemoglobin levels between 9-10 g % forming 41.3% of the total females
(Table 1). Out of 460 patients enrolled in the study, 21 Females were found to have hemoglobin variants on
screening amounting the prevalence of carrier states to 4.53% (Table 3).
Conclusion: All pregnant females should be screened for thalassemia carriers in early antenatal period and
positive patients should have screening of the partner along with relevant counseling regarding treatment
options. Cost effective diagnostic options should be made available in the periphery for mass screening.
Keyword :
Pregnancy, Thalassemia carriers, Thalassemia screening, HPLC, Red cell indices.