Prevalence of Minor β-thalassemia Based on RBC Indices among Final Suspected Individuals in Premarital Screening Program Referred to Genetic Laboratories

"nAbstract "nIntroduction: The current study evaluated the value of red blood cell (RBC) indices and the corresponding cut- off points for β-thalassemia control programs in Iran. "nMaterials and Methods: 1,150 individuals (575 couples) with low RBC indices and normal hemoglobin A2 who had been referred to the Genetic Centre of Isfahan, were tested during pre-marital screening analyses, in the 2 year period, 2006-2008. β-thalassemia mutations were evaluated. "nResults: β-thalassemia was identified in 67.8% of the cases with both mean corpuscular volume (MCV) less than 78fl and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) less than 26 pg. However, 4.1% of the individuals with "n78≤ MCV≤ 80 tested positive for thalassemia. MCV showed a higher diagnostic reliability than MCH. However, the accompaniment of MCH