Thalassemia in the Silk Road region of China

This paper summarizes data obtained during a screening program involving 11,563 persons from the Silk Road region in China. The mean incidence of thalassemia is 1.62% with an increase from east to west. The incidence in the Hui population (3.01%) is higher than in Kazaks (2.92%), and in Uygur (2.22%). The Han population also has a higher incidence (0.98%) than seen for other regions in Northern China. The thalassemias observed are classified into seven groups; beta-thalassemia accounts for 89.48% of the total, and alpha-thalassemia for 10.52%.