Spectrum of hemoglobin disorders in southern Odisha, India: a hospital based study.

Background: Hemoglobin disorders are the leading health concern in the world including India. There is a paucity of literature on the spectrum of hemoglobin disorders in southern districts of Odisha state. This study was undertaken to elucidate the occurrence of different hemoglobin disorders in a tertiary health care facility of Odisha state, India.

Methods: The study cases were suspected patients of all age groups advised for screening of different hemoglobin disorders. Hemoglobin disorders were screened by sickling slide test and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using the Variant-II hemoglobin testing system as per the manufacturer's guidelines.

Results: Over 2 years, 2332 blood samples (including 1102 pediatric and 1230 adult cases) were investigated, out of which, 1380 (59.2%) of cases had abnormal hemoglobin disorders. The most common was sickle cell disorders (48.67%, 1135/2332) followed by β-thalassemia (11.32%, 264/2332). Some rare variants were detected as hemoglobin D, hemoglobin E, hemoglobin Lepore, hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin, hemoglobin with high P2 window, hemoglobin with high P3 window etc, Among the cases with abnormal hemoglobin disorders, 744 (53.9%), 545 (39.5%) and, 91 (6.6%) cases were found to have the heterozygous, homozygous and, double heterozygous state. Of the 188 ante-natal cases screened, 31.4% of cases had abnormal hemoglobin variants with sickle cell disorders being the most prevalent one.

Conclusion: Along with the high occurrence of sickle cell disorders in the study area, some other rare hemoglobin disorders are also prevalent which calls for a large community-based cohort study.