Alhamdan Nasser Abdulrahman, Almazrou Yagob Yousaf, Alswaidi Fahad Mohammad, Choudhry Abdul Jamil
Non-Communicable Disease Program, Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Genet Med. 2007 Jun;9(6):372-7. doi: 10.1097/gim.0b013e318065a9e8.
To estimate the prevalence of sickle cell disorders and beta thalassemia, with their regional distribution, in the adult population screened as part of the Saudi Premarital Screening Program.
A cross-sectional, population-based study was conducted as part of the National Premarital Screening Program. It covered all the individuals who applied for a marriage license during the years 1425 and 1426 Hijra (February 2004 to January 2005). A network of 123 reception centers in the Ministry of Health facilities and 70 laboratories all over Saudi Arabia was involved in data collection.
Of a total of 488,315 individuals screened, 4.20% had sickle cell trait, 0.26% had sickle cell disease, 3.22% had thalassemia trait, and 0.07% had thalassemia disease. Both the diseases were focused mainly in the eastern, western, and southwestern parts of the country. Among the 207,333 couples who were issued certificates for matching, 2.14% were declared high risk. Among the 2,375 high-risk couples contacted by telephone, 89.6% married each other, despite the known high-risk status.
The results showed excellent access to the target population. However, the program's objective of decreasing high-risk marriages was not as successful, indicating the need for improvement of health education programs for the public, more efforts in counseling high risk couples, and changes in the strategy of timing of screening in relation to marriage.
评估作为沙特婚前筛查项目一部分接受筛查的成年人群中镰状细胞疾病和β地中海贫血的患病率及其区域分布情况。
作为国家婚前筛查项目的一部分，开展了一项基于人群的横断面研究。该研究涵盖了回历1425年和1426年（2004年2月至2005年1月）期间申请结婚证的所有个人。沙特卫生部设施中的123个接待中心网络以及沙特各地的70个实验室参与了数据收集工作。
在总共488,315名接受筛查的个体中，4.20%患有镰状细胞性状，0.26%患有镰状细胞疾病，3.22%患有地中海贫血性状，0.07%患有地中海贫血疾病。这两种疾病主要集中在该国的东部、西部和西南部地区。在获得匹配证书的207,333对夫妇中，2.14%被宣布为高风险。在通过电话联系的2,375对高风险夫妇中，89.6%的夫妇尽管知道自己处于高风险状态，但仍结为夫妻。
结果表明该项目能够很好地接触到目标人群。然而，该项目降低高风险婚姻的目标并未取得成功程度，这表明需要改进针对公众的健康教育项目，加大对高风险夫妇咨询的力度，并改变与婚姻相关的筛查时间策略。
