Analysis of hemoglobin electrophoresis results and physicians investigative practices in Saudi Arabia.
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Date
2013-07
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Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Riyadh and
central province falls in a moderate prevalent zone of
hemoglobinopathies in Saudi Arabia. However, it has
been observed that the physicians working in Saudi Arabia
invariably advise all cases of anemia for hemoglobin
electrophoresis (HE). The present work was carried out to
study the yield of the HE in Riyadh and the investigative
practices of the physicians advising HE.
SETTINGS AND DESIGN: The study was carried out in the
hospitals of King Saud University from 2009 to 2011 in order
to assess the yield of HE in referred cases of clinical anemia.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 1073 cases
divided in two groups of males and females had undergone
complete blood count and red blood cell morphology.
Cellulose acetate HE was performed and all the positive
results were reconfirmed on the high performance liquid
chromatography (HPLC). The results were analyzed
for the type of hemoglobinopathies. For statistical
analysis Statistical Package for Social Sciences 15
version (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) was used.
RESULTS: A total of 405 males and 668 females blood
samples were included in the present study. 116 (28.5%)
males and 167 (25%) females showed an abnormal pattern
on HE. The incidence of beta thalassemia trait was higher
in females while sickle cell trait was predominantly seen
in males. Red cell indices were reduced considerably in
thalassemias, but were unaffected in sickle cell disorders,
except those which had concurrent alpha trait. The total
yield of HE was 26.6% which was much less than expected.
CONCLUSION: The physicians are advised to rule out iron
deficiency and other common causes of anemia before
investigating the cases for hemoglobinopathies, which
employs time consuming and expensive tests of HE and
HPLC.
Description
Keywords
Electrophoresis, hemoglobin, physician’s practices, Saudi Arabia
Citation
Mehdi Syed Riaz, Al Dahmash Badr Abdullah. Analysis of hemoglobin electrophoresis results and physicians investigative practices in Saudi Arabia. Indian Journal of Human Genetics. 2013 July-Sept ;19 (3): 337-341.