Blood Indices of the Patients with β-Thalassemia Minor Compared to the Patients with β-Thalassemia Minor-Alpha-Thalassemia

Objective: Thalassemia, as one of the most common genetic diseases, is a group of hereditary hemoglobin disorders due to a slight disturbance in the production of alpha and beta globin chains in the structure of hemoglobin occurs. There are still no clear criteria for differentiating thalassemia types based on hematological findings. In the current study, we aimed to evaluate the low-grade beta-thalassemia (β-thalassemia) indices in comparison with β-thalassemia minor with alpha-thalassemia (α-thalassemia). Methods and materials: In this descriptive-analytic study, 120 patients were enrolled, including 80 patients with minor β-thalassemia and 40 patients with minor β-thalassemia with α-thalassemia. Of all patients, 5cc blood samples were taken. The red blood cell parameters including mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), and hemoglobin were determined. The level of MCV> 80 and A2> 3.5 β-thalassemia minor and MCV <80 and A2 <3.5 were considered as elevated thalassemia or iron deficiency anemia. Results: The results showed that the mean of hemoglobin, HCT, MCH, MCHC, and MCV in the β-thalassemia group was significantly lower than that of the β-thalassemia with α-thalassemia group (P <0.0001). On the other hand, the level of these indices in the control group was significantly higher than in the two groups of patients (P<0.0001). The results showed that the percentage of hemoglobin A2 in the β-alpha-thalassemia group was 4.5 ± 0.91, significantly higher than the β-thalassemia group. The rate of hemoglobin and MCV was significantly lower in the β-thalassemia group compared to the silent and trait β+αthalassemia group. Also, the rate of hematocrit was significantly lower in the β-thalassemia group compared to the trait, although had no significant difference with the silence group. Conclusion: Based on our findings, despite the difference between some hematocrit indices in the patients with β-thalassemia and β-αthalassemia, these indices cannot be used as differential indices.