Newborn Screening for Sickle Cell Disease Among Tribal Populations in the States of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in India: Evaluation and Outcome Over 6 Years.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) poses considerable public health problems in India. This study was undertaken to understand the clinical course of SCD among children identified during newborn screening programmes in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh where the frequency of the HbS gene is high. A total of 8,916 newborn babies 8,411 from Gujarat and 505 from Madhya Pradesh were screened over 6 years (2010-2016) using HPLC and the diagnosis was confirmed by molecular analysis in a subset.

Multicenter Evaluation of HemoTypeSC as a Point-of-Care Sickle Cell Disease Rapid Diagnostic Test for Newborns and Adults Across India.

Objectives: Sickle cell anemia is the commonest genetic disorder in India, and the frequency of the sickle cell gene is very high in the remote tribal areas where facilities are generally limited. Therefore, a rapid and affordable point-of-care test for sickle cell disease is needed.

Methods: The diagnostic accuracy of HemoTypeSC was evaluated against automated high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) as the gold standard for its efficacy in a newborn screening program.

Feasibility of a newborn screening and follow-up programme for sickle cell disease among South Gujarat (India) tribal populations.

Objectives: To evaluate the feasibility of a newborn screening and follow-up programme for sickle cell disease (SCD) among tribal populations of south Gujarat, India.

Methods: A total of 5467 newborn babies were screened over 2 years using High-performance liquid chromatography, with diagnosis by molecular analysis. The SCD babies were followed-up clinically and haematologically regularly for 1.

Transfusion in sickle cell disease: experience from a Gujarat centre.

Objectives: Following impressions that the use of blood transfusion in sickle cell disease may be inappropriately high, transfusion practice at a major blood bank in an area of high prevalence of sickle cell disease was assessed.

Methods: Retrospective review of blood usage in sickle cell disease at a major blood bank in south Gujarat in 2010 was conducted with prospective more detailed data collection over 18 wk period (April 7 through August 15) in 2011. The results were compared with transfusion usage in the Jamaican Sickle Cell Clinic.

Distribution of beta-globin haplotypes among the tribes of southern Gujarat, India.

The present study was carried out in Indo-European speaking tribal population groups of southern Gujarat (India) to elucidate the allelic and haplotypic content of β-globin system in individuals with HbAA genotypes. 6 neutral restriction sites of the β-globin system were analysed and various statistical parameters were estimated to draw meaningful interpretations. All the 6 sites were found to be polymorphic and most were in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium in the studied group.