A survey of pregnancies with Hb Bart's disease in Mainland China

Yu Yang1, Dong-Zhi Li

  • 1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Guangzhou Maternal & Neonatal Hospital, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical College, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.

Hemoglobin
|April 18, 2009
PubMed

alpha-Thalassemia (alpha-thal) is a common inherited disease in southern China. The severest form is Hb Bart's disease, in which the affected individuals are lethal in utero or shortly after birth, and the pregnancies are at high risk for severe morbidity. A survey by us revealed a total of 68 cases of Hb Bart's disease during the past 7 years at a maternal hospital and none of these showed that a risk of thalassemia had been recognized prior to the development of hydrops fetalis. The number of cases of Hb Bart's disease did not vary significantly during the study period. This means that the prevention program for alpha-thal has not been efficient. More effort is needed to efficiently control this disease in our region.

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