scholarly journals Hematological Indices for Differential Diagnosis of Beta Thalassemia Trait and Iron Deficiency Anemia

Anemia ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aysel Vehapoglu ◽  
Gamze Ozgurhan ◽  
Ayşegul Dogan Demir ◽  
Selcuk Uzuner ◽  
Mustafa Atilla Nursoy ◽  
...  

Background. The two most frequent types of microcytic anemia are beta thalassemia trait (β-TT) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA). We retrospectively evaluated the reliability of various indices for differential diagnosis of microcytosis andβ-TT in the same patient groups.Methods. A total of 290 carefully selected children aged 1.1–16 years were evaluated. We calculated 12 discrimination indices in all patients with hemoglobin (Hb) values of 8.7–11.4 g/dL. None of the subjects had a combined case of IDA andβ-TT. All children with IDA received oral iron for 16 weeks, and HbA2 screening was performed after iron therapy. The patient groups were evaluated according to red blood cell (RBC) count; red blood distribution width index; the Mentzer, Shine and Lal, England and Fraser, Srivastava and Bevington, Green and King, Ricerca, Sirdah, and Ehsani indices; mean density of hemoglobin/liter of blood; and mean cell density of hemoglobin.Results. The Mentzer index was the most reliable index, as it had the highest sensitivity (98.7%), specificity (82.3%), and Youden’s index (81%) for detectingβ-TT; this was followed by the Ehsani index (94.8%, 73.5%, and 68.3%, resp.) and RBC count (94.8%, 70.5%, and 65.3%).Conclusion. The Mentzer index provided the highest reliabilities for differentiatingβ-TT from IDA.

1996 ◽  
Vol 114 (5) ◽  
pp. 1265-1269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Silvia Passos Lima ◽  
Aparecida Ribeiro de Carvalho Reis ◽  
Helena Zerlotti Wolf Grotto ◽  
Sara Teresinha Ollala Saad ◽  
Fernando Ferreira Costa

The red cell distribution width (RDW), and another red cell discriminant function incorporating RDW (MCV² x RDW/Hgb x 100) were determined in a group of 30 patients with iron deficiency anemia, 30 patients with beta thalassemia trait, and 30 normal subjects. Both RDW and (MCV² x RDW/Hgb x 100) mean values were significantly higher in iron deficiency anemia than in beta thalassemia trait (p<0.001). Taking RDW equal or above 21.0 percent among microcytic anemia patients, we identified correctly 90.0 percent of patients with iron deficiency anemia. The sensitivity and specificity of the test were 90.0 percent (IC 95 percent: 0.75 - 0.96) and 77.0 percent (IC 95 percent: 0.60 - 0.88), respectively. RDW values below 21.0 percent identified correctly 77.0 percent of beta thalassemia trait with a sensitivity and a specificity of 77.0 percent (IC 95 percent: 0.60 - 0.88) and 90.0 percent (IC 95 percent: 0.75 - 0.96), respectively. Taking values of (MCV² x RDW/Hgb x 100) above and below 80.0 percent as indicative of iron deficiency and beta thalassemia trait, respectively, we identified correctly 97.0 percent of those patients in each group. Both sensitivity and specificity were 97.0 percent (IC 95 percent: 0.84 - 0.99). These results indicated that the red cell discriminant function incorporating volume dispersion (MCV² x RDW/Hgb x 100) is a highly sensitive and specific method in the initial screening of patients with microcytic anemia and is better than RDW in differentiating iron deficiency anemia from beta thalassemia trait.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Mina Jahangiri ◽  
Fakher Rahim ◽  
Najmaldin Saki ◽  
Amal Saki Malehi

Objective. Several discriminating techniques have been proposed to discriminate between β-thalassemia trait (βTT) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA). These discrimination techniques are essential clinically, but they are challenging and typically difficult. This study is the first application of the Bayesian tree-based method for differential diagnosis of βTT from IDA. Method. This cross-sectional study included 907 patients with ages over 18 years old and a mean (±SD) age of 25 ± 16.1 with either βTT or IDA. Hematological parameters were measured using a Sysmex KX-21 automated hematology analyzer. Bayesian Logit Treed (BLTREED) and Classification and Regression Trees (CART) were implemented to discriminate βTT from IDA based on the hematological parameters. Results. This study proposes an automatic detection model of beta-thalassemia carriers based on a Bayesian tree-based method. The BLTREED model and CART showed that mean corpuscular volume (MCV) was the main predictor in diagnostic discrimination. According to the test dataset, CART indicated higher sensitivity and negative predictive value than BLTREED for differential diagnosis of βTT from IDA. However, the CART algorithm had a high false-positive rate. Overall, the BLTREED model showed better performance concerning the area under the curve (AUC). Conclusions. The BLTREED model showed excellent diagnostic accuracy for differentiating βTT from IDA. In addition, understanding tree-based methods are easy and do not need statistical experience. Thus, it can help physicians in making the right clinical decision. So, the proposed model could support medical decisions in the differential diagnosis of βTT from IDA to avoid much more expensive, time-consuming laboratory tests, especially in countries with limited recourses or poor health services.


Author(s):  
Pravin M. Meshram ◽  
Hemant R. Kokandakar ◽  
Rajan S. Bindu

Background: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and beta thalassaemia trait (BTT) are two of the most common causes of microcytic anemia.It is essential to differentiate between the two, so as to avoid unnecessary iron therapy which is contraindicated in beta thalassaemia .We retrospectively evaluated the reliability of various indices for differential diagnosis of microcytosis and 𝛽-TT in the same patient groups .Methods: A total of 200 patients were evaluated. We calculated 6 discrimination indices in all patients with anemia or suspected beta thalassemia. None of the subjects had  combined  IDA and 𝛽-TT. The patient groups were evaluated according to  the Mentzer, Shine and Lal, England and Fraser,Srivastava, Green and King, Ricerca.Results: According to percentage correctly diagnosed criteria, Ricerca  and Mentzer  index are considered as the two best discrimination indices in differentiation between β thalassemia trait  and iron deficiency anaemia .Youden’s index showed the following ranking with respect to the indices’ ability to distinguish between 𝛽-TT and IDA, Ricerca index >  Mentzer index > Green and King index >  Srivastava index >  Shine and Lal index > England and Fraser index.Conclusions: Ricerca  and Mentzer  index are considered as the two best discrimination indices in differentiation between β thalassemia trait  and iron deficiency anaemia.Keywords: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and beta thalassaemia trait (𝛽-TT) 


Anemia ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eloísa Urrechaga ◽  
Urko Aguirre ◽  
Silvia Izquierdo

Introduction. Iron deficiency anemia and thalassemia are the most common causes of microcytic anemia. Powerful statistical computer programming enables sensitive discriminant analyses to aid in the diagnosis. We aimed at investigating the performance of the multiple discriminant analysis (MDA) to the differential diagnosis of microcytic anemia.Methods. The training group was composed of 200β-thalassemia carriers, 65α-thalassemia carriers, 170 iron deficiency anemia (IDA), and 45 mixed cases of thalassemia and acute phase response or iron deficiency. A set of potential predictor parameters that could detect differences among groups were selected: Red Blood Cells (RBC), hemoglobin (Hb), mean cell volume (MCV), mean cell hemoglobin (MCH), and RBC distribution width (RDW). The functions obtained with MDA analysis were applied to a set of 628 consecutive patients with microcytic anemia.Results. For classifying patients into two groups (genetic anemia and acquired anemia), only one function was needed; 87.9%β-thalassemia carriers, and 83.3%α-thalassemia carriers, and 72.1% in the mixed group were correctly classified.Conclusion. Linear discriminant functions based on hemogram data can aid in differentiating between IDA and thalassemia, so samples can be efficiently selected for further analysis to confirm the presence of genetic anemia.


Author(s):  
Shaimaa Abdelmalik Pessar

Background: Many Red Blood Cell (RBC) indices have been developed based on mathematical formulae to discriminate beta-thalassemia trait (βTT) from iron deficiency anemia (IDA). The latter two conditions represent the most common causes of microcytic hypochromic anemia in Egypt. This study aimed To evaluate the diagnostic reliability of 24 published discriminant indices for differentiating βTT from IDA in Egyptians. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study included a total of 166 subjects (108 IDA & 58 βTT) aged 1-18 years were recruited from Hematology laboratory of  Pediatric Hospital, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. A full diagnostic algorithm was performed using complete blood count, hemoglobin electrophoresis by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), iron profile and PCR detection of 22 mutations common for βTT. Twenty-four formulas were applied and their performance characteristics were calculated for each index. Results: The highest accuracy (True positive + True negative/ All cases) & Youden's Index (Sensitivity+Specificity-100) were for Red Cell Distribution Width (RDWI) and Hameed index closely followed by Keikhaei index while the least performance was for RDW-SD, RDW-CV and Shine & Lal indices. Conclusion The superiority of an index over another in distinguishing βTT from IDA allowed only partially better selection of cases warranting further confirmatory molecular studies. None of the studied formulae provided a surrogate test for Hb electrophoresis as mass screening.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeter Düzenli Kar ◽  
Konca Altınkaynak

AbstractObjectivesThis study investigated the diagnostic power of reticulocyte hemoglobin equivalent (Ret-He) in the differential diagnosis of hypochromic microcytic anemia to differentiate iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and thalassemia trait (TT) based on the traditionally used erythrocyte index and formulas.MethodsTwenty-six children with iron deficiency (ID), 26 with IDA, 33 with β-TT, 41 healthy children were assessed. Complete blood count parameters, Ret-He, immature reticulocyte fraction (IRF), low-fluorescence ratio (LFR), Mentzer’s indexes (MI) were evaluated. The diagnostic power of Ret-He in distinguishing between IDA and β-TT was investigated using ROC analysis.ResultsRet-He levels were (median(Q1-Q3)) 20.6(19.7–21.5) pg in β-TT, 16.1(13.1–20) pg in IDA, 29.7(27.2–30.7) pg in ID, 30.5(29.8–31.7) pg in healthy controls. Based on ROC analysis, diagnostic power for distinguishing between IDA and β-TT was determined as RBC>MI>Ret-He>RDW>LFR>IRF. The highest sensitivity and specificity for differential diagnosis was obtained when the Ret-He cut-off value was 18.2pg. The AUC (95%CI) value was calculated as 0.765(0.637–0.866), and a statistically significant difference was found between groups (p<0.0006).ConclusionsIn patients with hypochromic microcytic anemia, Ret-He≤18.2pg combined with RBC≤5.3x106/L and MI>10.42 can be safely used to distinguish IDA from β-TT. In particular, patients with low Ret-He who don’t respond to iron therapy should be examined for β-TT.


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