Haemoglobin Disorders among Southeast-Asian Refugees in France

Abstract

Haemoglobin disorders were studied among Southeast-Asian refugees (Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians). Phenotypic haemoglobin investigations and genotypical studies concerning the α loci were carried out. Most of the observed cases of microcytosis were related to a thalassaemic defect. High prevalence of Hb E and α-thalassaemia were found

M.C.V. should not be the only criteria to order vitamin B12 for anemia under evaluation

“…Among 2388 patients only 6% had macrocytosis, 20% had microcytosis and 74% were normocytic. These findings suggest that concomitant iron or other nutritional deficiencies or hemoglobinopathies [21,28,29] may have been responsible for the normal or even low MCV values in some of our anemic patients; such anemias and hemoglobinopathies have been seen commonly in Southeast Asians [21,[30][31][32]. Moreover, the combination in anemia has been reported in the literature [33][34][35].…”

High Frequency of α-Thalassemia in the So Ethnic Group of South Laos

“…High frequencies of α-thalassemia 1 of the Southeast Asian type (– SEA ), α-thalassemia 2 (–α) and Hb Constant Spring (Hb CS) [α 2 142 TAA → CAA] are present in many populations of Southeast Asia [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. Recently, another electrophoretically slow-moving hemoglobin due to a term codon mutation, Hb Paksé (Hb PS) [α 2 142 TAA → TAT], was observed in Laos and Northeastern Thailand [8, 9].…”