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Artigo Acesso aberto Produção Nacional Revisado por pares
BIBTEX RIS

Hemoglobinopathies in newborns from Salvador, Bahia, Northeast Brazil

2005; Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz; Volume: 21; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1590/s0102-311x2005000100032

ISSN

1678-4464

Autores

Elisângela Vitória Adôrno, Fábio David Couto, José Pereira de Moura Neto, Joelma Figueiredo Menezes, Marco Antônio Vasconcelos Rêgo, Mitermayer Galvão dos Reis, Marilda de Souza Gonçalves,

Tópico(s)

Neonatal Health and Biochemistry

Resumo

Hemoglobinopathies are hereditary disorders of the hemoglobin molecule with a high prevalence worldwide. Brazil has a prevalence of 0.1 to 0.3% of newborns with sickle cell anemia and 20.0 to 25.0% of heterozygous alpha2 thalassemia among African Brazilians. In the present study, we investigated the presence of variant hemoglobins and alpha2(3.7 Kb) and alpha2(4.2 Kb) thalassemia in newborns from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Samples of umbilical cord blood from a total of 590 newborns were analyzed, of which 57 (9.8%) were FAS; 36 (6.5%) FAC; one (0.2%) SF; and five (0.9%) FSC. One hundred fourteen (22.2%) newborns had alpha2(3.7 Kb) thalassemia, of whom 101 (19.7%) were heterozygous and 13 (2.5%) homozygous, showing statistical significance for hematological data between newborns with normal alpha genes and alpha2(3.7 Kb) thalassemia carriers. The alpha2(4.2 Kb) thalassemia was not found. Frequencies found in the present study confirm that hemoglobinopathies are a public health problem in Brazil, emphasizing the need for neonatal screening and genetic counseling programs.

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