Forecasting hemoglobinopathy burden through neonatal screening in Omani neonates.

To evaluate the incidence of hemoglobinopathies in Omani subjects and to forecast its future burden on health resources, we initiated a prospective neonatal screening program in two major cities of the Sultanate of Oman. Consecutive cord blood samples from a total of 7,837 neonates were analyzed for complete blood counts and for hemoglobin (Hb) profile by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). No case with Hb H (beta4) was detected. We observed that the overall incidence of alpha-thalassemia (alpha-thal) was 48.5% [based on the presence of Hb Bart's (gamma4)] and the beta-globin-related abnormalities accounted for 9.5% of the samples (4.8% sickle cell trait, 2.6% beta-thal trait, 0.9% Hb E trait, 0.8% Hb D trait, 0.08% Hb C trait, 0.3% sickle cell disease and 0.08% homozygous beta-thal). This is also the first large study to establish reference ranges of cord red blood cell (RBC) indices for Omani neonates.