The Greek-American Diaspora: A Patient Population in Need of Increased β-Thalassemia Carrier Status Screening and Education

Objective:The true prevalence of β-thalassemia is unknown in the United States. Further, basic community knowledge of the disease and its pathogenesis has gone unexplored. The objective of this study was to assess disease knowledge in an at-risk Central Pennsylvanian community, and to assess self-reported carrier frequencies of β-thalassemia. To our knowledge, this is the first assessment of β-thalassemia disease knowledge in an American diaspora of an at-risk patient population.