Prevalence of thalassemia among infertile women in Hainan province

Objective To detect prevalence and genotype of thalassemia among infertile women in Hainan province.Methods A total of 334 infertile women were recruited and detected for α thalassemia with gap PCR and hybridi-zation kit.Results Among the women, the overall prevalence of thalassemia was 15.9%;the prevalence of α thalassemia(47 cases) was 14.1%, with 5 cases of -α3.7/-α3.7, 19 of -α3.7/αα, 1 of -α4.2/-α4.2, 14 of -α4.2/αα, 4 of -α3.7/αα and-α4.2/ααdouble mutation, 1 of -SEA/-SEA, and 3 of -SEA/αα;the prevalence of β thalassemia was 1.5%, including 1 of β17M/βA, 1 of β41-42M/βA, and 3 of βEM/βA;additionally, 1 case of combined α and β thalassemia was detected, with the prevalence of 0.3%.Conclusion The thalassemia positive rate is high among infertile women in Hainan province and the screening of thalassemia is strongly recommended among the women.