To determine the frequency of beta thalassemia trait in siblings of beta thalassemia major patients

Aim: to determine frequency of beta thalassemia trait in siblings of beta thalassemia major patients. setting: sir ganga ram hospital lahore,institute of blood transfusion,children hospital and services hospital lahore methods: a total of 400 subjects were included in the present study and divided into two equal groups. group i comprised of asymptomatic siblings of beta thalassemia major (btm) patients and were further divided into two groups: ia with normal siblings of btm patients and ib with beta thalassemia trait (btt) siblings of btm patients. group ii were age and sex matched healthy controls. asymptomatic siblings of diagnosed cases of beta thalassemia major were included in this study and patients with history or diagnosis of any acute or chronic illnesses were excluded. osmotic fragility,mean cell volume (mcv),haemoglobin electrophoresis were done. conclusions: out of 200 siblings of beta thalassemia major (btm) patients,78% (156) were diagnosed as beta thalassemia trait (btt). mcv was decreased in btt siblings as compared to control group. median corpuscular fragility (mcf) was reduced in btt siblings (ib) as compared to control group.