Using data from the current National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999–2000), the authors assessed whether Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with iron deficiency and iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) in the United States. Iron deficiency was defined as at least two abnormal results out of three biomarkers of iron stores. IDA was defined as a low hemoglobin level in the presence...

Hydroxyurea and higher hemoglobin F improve the clinical course and survival in sickle cell disease, but their roles in protecting from pulmonary hypertension are not clear. We studied 399 children and adolescents with sickle cell disease at steady state; 38% were being treated with hydroxyurea. Patients on hydroxyurea had higher hemoglobin concentration and lower values for a hemolytic compone...

BACKGROUND Sickle cell disease is a hemoglobinopathy characterized by hemolytic anemia, increased susceptibility to infections and recurrent vaso-occlusive crises that reduces the quality of life of sufferers. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the correlation of the levels of lactate dehydrogenase, malonaldehyde and nitrite to fetal hemoglobin in patients with sickle cell disease not under treatment with...

In homozygous 8-thalassemia the erythrocyte population is largely nonhomogeneous; no other condition presents such a variation of size, shape, and content of hemoglobin in the red cells. In addition, red cell morphology may differ from patient to patient as concerns degree and quality of alterations. This variability, evident at mere examination of red cell morphology, has been supported by the...

Hemoglobinopathies are the most common single gene disorders worldwide with a considerable frequency in certain area particularly Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries. Hemoglobinopathies include structural variants of hemoglobin (Hb S, Hb C, HbE,…) and thalassaemias which are inherited defects in the globin chains synthesis. The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of h...

Most α-thalassemia cases are caused by deletions of the structural α-globin genes. The degree of microcytosis and hypochromia has been correlated with the number of affected α-globin genes, suggesting a promising role of hematologic parameters as predictive diagnostic tools. However, cut-off points for these parameters to discriminate between the different subtypes of α-thalassemia are yet to b...

In practice, clinicians generally consider anemia (circulating hemoglobin concentration < 120 g.l-1 in non-pregnant females and < 130 g.l-1 in males) as due to impaired hemoglobin synthesis or increased erythrocyte loss or destruction. Rarely is a rise in plasma volume relative to circulating total hemoglobin mass considered as a cause. But does this matter? We explored this issue in patients, ...

The incidence of functional asplenia in sickle-hemoglobin C (SC) disease has not been defined, and the use of prophylactic penicillin to prevent life-threatening septicemia in this disorder is controversial. The percentage of red blood cells with pits (pit count) is a reliable assay of splenic function in other disorders but has not been validated in hemoglobin SC disease. To address these issu...

Alpha-thalassemia is very common throughout all tropical and subtropical regions of the world. In Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean regions, compound heterozygotes and homozygotes may have anemia that is mild to severe (hemoglobin [Hb] H disease) or lethal (Hb Bart's hydrops fetalis). We have developed a reliable, single-tube multiplex-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for the 6 most fre...