Table 5.
Haemoglobin A2 percentage, red cell indices, and haemoglobin S percentage in patients with sickle cell trait with or without α thalassaemia (the four patients with iron deficiency have been excluded)
| α Gene status | αα/αα (group A) | −α/αα (group B) | −α/−α (group C) | Significance of difference | ||
| A v B | B v C | A v C | ||||
| Hb (g/l) | 125.1 (19.1) | 114.9 (19.6) | 119.5 (13.1) | >0.1 | >0.1 | >0.1 |
| RBC ×1012/l | 4.48 (0.67) | 4.45 (0.61) | 5.54 (0.67) | >0.1 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| MCV (fl) | 84.88 (8.26) | 79.08 (5.80) | 67.77 (5.81) | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| MCH (pg) | 28.05 (5.49) | 25.79 (2.10) | 21., 65 (1.84) | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| Hb S % by MC | 37.24 (3.14) | 32.61 (2.33) | 25.53 (2.08) | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| Hb S % by HPLC | 37.13 (2.51) | 32.61 (1.91) | 25.52 (1.44) | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| Hb A2 % by MC | 3.23 (0.31) | 3.41 (0.43) | 3.54 (0.45) | >0.1 | >0.1 | <0.01 |
| Hb A2 % by SD | 3.44 (0.62) | 3.78 (0.7) | 3.85 (0.72) | >0.1 | >0.1 | <0.01 |
| Hb A2 % by HPLC | 4.33 (0.37) | 4.41 (0.35) | 4.49 (0.76) | >0.1 | >0.1 | >0.1 |
A, subjects with no α gene deletion; B, subjects with one α gene deletion; C, subjects with two α gene deletions.
Values are mean (SD).
HPLC, high performance liquid chromatography; MC, microcolumn chromatography; MCH, mean cell haemoglobin; MCV, mean cell volume; RBC, red blood cells; SD, scanning densitometry.