Because of the availability of safe, accurate prenatal diagnosis for hemoglobinopathies, we wanted to know if pregnant women identified as carriers of a hemoglobinopathy by prenatal screening use this information to determine whether their fetus is at risk. Blood from all pregnant women served by a 40 percent sample of prenatal care providers in Rochester, New York, over 51 months underwent Hb electrophoresis and MCV ± Hb A2 determination. The frequency of positives was 33/229 (14 percent) for Southeast Asians versus 567/15,824 (3.6 percent) for non-Southeast Asians. Of the positives, 29 (88 percent) Southeast Asians came for counseling versus 348 (61 percent) others. Of those counseled, 26 (90 percent) Southeast Asians had their partners tested, as did 211 (61 percent) others. Of the partners tested, 17 (65 percent) Southeast Asians were also positive compared to 44 (21 percent) others. Of couples offered prenatal diagnosis, 50 percent of each group (4/8 and 17/34) accepted. Of those accepting, all Southeast Asians actually underwent the procedure, while seven (41 percent) others miscarried or failed to keep their appointment. Thus, in our pregnant population, Southeast Asians are four times more likely to be hmeoglobinopathy carriers than non-Southeast Asians, and Southeast Asian carriers are four times more likely to warrant, want, and undergo prenatal diagnosis for a hemoglobinopathy than non-Southeast Asian carriers.

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Short Survey refugee prenatal care human Ethnic Groups comparative study screening United States Heterozygote Detection Hemoglobinopathies male female Prenatal Diagnosis pregnancy clinical article Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. diagnosis patient compliance Support, Non-U.S. Gov't adult Erythrocyte Indices ethnic or racial aspects genetic counseling congenital disorder Hemoglobin A2 Asia, Southeastern hemoglobinopathy