Evaluation of efficacy of mentzer index for screening of beta - Thalassemia trait in antenatal women

Abstract

People with thalassemia trait should be distinguished from those who have anemia due to iron deficiency since they typically have mild microcytic hypochromic anemia and are mostly asymptomatic. : To evaluate efficacy of Mentzer index for screening Beta- Thalassemia trait in pregnant women.From January 2023 to October 2023, the observational study was carried out in the Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics at Sri Guru Ram Das Charitable Hospital Amritsar. The study comprised 130 pregnant women with anemia. To assess microcytic hypochromic anemia, tests like complete blood count (CBC), peripheral blood smears, iron studies, and hemoglobin electrophoresis were performed. Mentzer Index (MI) was computed, and its specificity and sensitivity assessed. Of the 130 patients, 112 had Mentzer Index greater than 13 and 18 had Mentzer Index less than 13 but only 12 out of these18 had beta thal-trait according to HPLC. There were total 15 females having beta thal-trait as per HPLC, however 3 of the 15 had Mentzer >13. Conserding Beta thal-trait, the Mentzer Index's sensitivity and specificity were 80% and 95.65% in this study, and 95.33% and 86.96% for IDA. Mentzer Index (MI) is a helpful tool to distinguish iron deficiency from thalassemia trait as its specificity and sensitivity is high as electrophoresis in diagnosis. In situations with limited resources, this proves to be advantageous in terms of cost-effectiveness.