FREQUENCY OF BETA THALASSEMIA TRAIT IN PREGNANT ANEMIC PATIENTS ATTENDING KHYBER TEACHING HOSPITAL, PESHAWAR-PAKISTAN

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of beta thalassemia trait in pregnant anemic patients attending Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Gynecology and Obstetrics Department of Khyber Teaching Hospital, rd rd Peshawar from 3 November 2015 to 3 May 2016. All pregnant women of any parity with hemoglobin value of 10.5g/dl presenting in first trimester and in age group of 15-45 years were included while pregnant anemic women who were already diagnosed cases of haemoglobinopathies were excluded. RESULTS: Our study of 194 pregnant anemic patients showed that mean age was 27.74±5.16 years. The age distribution was 125 (64.43%) patients in 15-30 years age group and 69 (35.56%) patients in 31-45years age group. Mean hemoglobin level was recorded as 9.43±0.40 g/dl and mean HbA was 2 4.26±0.52. Mean value for mean corpuscular volume was 60.23±1.57fl and for mean corpuscular hemoglobin was 21±0.42 g/dl. The results of our study for beta thalassemia trait in pregnant anemic patients were recorded as 110 (56.7%) were positive whereas 84(43.29%) had no beta thalassemia traits. Among 125 patients in 15-30 years age range, 65 (52%) were positive for beta thalassemia trait while out of the 69 pregnant anemic patients in age range of 31- 45 years, 45 (65.2%) had beta thalassemia trait (p-value=0.113). CONCLUSION: Beta thalassemia trait is very common and is found in more than half of pregnant anemic patients in our region.