Introduction: Haemoglobin electrophoresis is the diagnostic tool to detect the abnormal hemoglobinopathies. Normal adult haemoglobin is HbA(Alpha2 Beta2).. Other forms of abnormal haemoglobin includes HbA2, HbD, HbS which are commonly detected in hemoglobinopathies. HbA2 level in normal individual is undetectable. Its level will be increased in Thalassemia Trait or Thalassemia minor individuals. The level of HbA2 when it’s more than 5%, then that is considered as Gold standard to diagnose the Thalassemia trait or minor.
Materials and Methods: We did a retrospective studies in the Trichy SRM Medical College hospital and Research Centre and a total of 100 patients who were diagnosed with microcytic hypochromic anaemia. Complete blood count were run in all cases and Based on results many differential diagnosis for microcytic hypochromic blood pictures were documented. For all these patients Haemoglobin electrophoresis were also studied by Sebia capillary electrophoresis machine and graph was plotted and analysed. Based on HbA2 levels, when the value is more than 4 to 5% then itscategorised as Thalassemia trait cases. When the value of HbA2 is less than normal then those patients were diagnosed with iron deficiency anaemia. Few discriminant factors were also taken to differentiate iron deficiency anaemia and thalassemia trait patients. Mentzer Index, Green and Kings index and Shine Lal index were considered to differentiates iron deficiency anaemia and thalassemia trait.
Results: A total of 100 microcytic hypochromic patients were studied and period of study was 1 year from January 2024 to January 2025. Patients from all age groups and from both male and female were taken for the study. HbA2 graph were derived and based on the results the patients were categorised into iron deficiency anaemia and thalassemia trait. International council of standardization of haematologywere used to quantify the HbA2 levels in both MCHC.
Conclusions: The study analyzed lab results of 213 Beta thalassemia trait (BTT) cases, finding that median values met BTT criteria. Hb A2 levels above 3.5 are key for diagnosis. 117 iron deficiency anemia (IDA) cases were used for comparison, with some BTT cases also having IDA.
Keywords: HbA2, ICSH, Thallsemia Trait.
