Newborn Screening Shows a High Incidence of Sickle Cell Anemia in Central India

Abstract

There is limited data on the incidence of sickle cell anemia in Central India; we therefore conducted a study to estimate the incidence of this disease in Central India. Mothers who delivered a live baby at the Government Medical College, Nagpur, India were screened for the presence of the sickle cell hemoglobin {Hb S: [β6 (A3) Glu→Val, GAG>GTG]} using the solubility test within 48 hours of delivery. Infants of mothers who showed the presence of Hb S then underwent Hb analysis by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). A total of 8243 mothers was screened, 1178 of whom were positive. One thousand, one hundred and sixty-two infants of mothers with a positive solubility test underwent Hb analysis by HPLC; 530 infants were normal, while 536 were heterozygous for Hb S (sickle cell trait), 88 babies were homozygous for Hb S (sickle cell anemia), while another eight babies had other Hb abnormalities. The incidence of sickle cell anemia was highest in the Scheduled caste group (1:50). We concluded that the incidence of sickle cell anemia is high in central India.

High burden of malaria and anemia among tribal pregnant women in a chronic conflict corridor in India

“…Improving access to malaria prevention, care and treatment could potentially reduce the need of hospitalisations and improve maternal health; however other causes of anemia may be playing an important role in the morbidity of pregnant women. Different studies have suggested a high prevalence of hemoglobinopathies in central India, including sickle cell disease and thalassemia [34, 35]. Sickle cell anemia is especially high in patients from Chhattisgarh, with some studies suggesting a prevalence as high as 35% in some communities [36].…”

Newborn screening for haemoglobinopathies by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC): diagnostic utility of different approaches in resource-poor settings

“…Sickle cell disease causes considerable morbidity and mortality in central India and hence newborn screening for sickle cell disease is important in this region [10]. Majority of the newborn screening programmes for haemoglobinopathies globally have used either isoelectric focussing (IEF) or HPLC as the primary method [11][12][13][14].…”

Prevalence of the βSGene Among Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Class Groups in Central India

“…Central India is one of the regions of the world with a high prevalence of the b S gene of between 1.4 and 23.8% in different communities (14,15,34,35). The state of Maharashtra has a population of 112.3 million with the SC, ST and OBC groups comprising 10.2, 8.9, and 52.0% of the population, respectively (36,37).…”

“…Variations in the prevalence of the b S gene have been reported in various Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) within different regions throughout India. There have been several previous studies on community screening in different communities for the b S gene but the number of individuals studied have been few; some studies have been hospital-based and the methodology used has not been uniform (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34). While sickle cell disease is common among many different ethnic groups, high prevalence has been reported in three historically disadvantaged ethnic categories: the SC, the ST and Other Backward Class (OBC) groups in India .…”