Rana S R, Sekhsaria S, Castro O L
Dept of Pediatrics and Child Health, Howard University Hospital, Washington, DC 20060.
Pediatrics. 1993 Apr;91(4):800-2.
Several nutritional surveys have shown that African-American children have lower mean hematocrit and hemoglobin values than white children. While the high prevalence of both alpha and beta thalassemias in African-American children can partly account for the lower hematologic values, the remaining differences cannot be explained. African-American individuals have a high prevalence of traits for hemoglobin S (HbAS) and hemoglobin C (HbAC). The mean hematocrit of children with normal hemoglobin AA (HbAA) (n = 15637) was compared with that of children with traits for HbAS (n = 1197) and HbAC (n = 440). For both sexes, the mean hematocrit of subjects with HbAC and HbAS was 1.5 and 1 point lower, respectively, than that of subjects with HbAA. These differences were highly significant statistically. When the data were examined with regard to age and sex, statistically significant differences were present for all groups analyzed except the 11- through 14-year-old male group for HbAC and the 15- through 19-year-old male group for HbAS. Thus, the presence of Hb S and C traits is associated with a lower hematocrit. This reduced hematocrit may significantly contribute to the racial differences in mean hematocrit due to the high prevalence of these traits in African-American children.
多项营养调查表明，非裔美国儿童的平均血细胞比容和血红蛋白值低于白人儿童。虽然非裔美国儿童中α和β地中海贫血的高患病率可部分解释血液学值较低的原因，但其余差异无法解释。非裔美国人中血红蛋白S（HbAS）和血红蛋白C（HbAC）性状的患病率很高。将血红蛋白正常的AA型儿童（HbAA，n = 15637）的平均血细胞比容与具有HbAS性状（n = 1197）和HbAC性状（n = 440）的儿童的平均血细胞比容进行了比较。对于男女两性，具有HbAC和HbAS的受试者的平均血细胞比容分别比具有HbAA的受试者低1.5个百分点和1个百分点。这些差异在统计学上具有高度显著性。当按年龄和性别检查数据时，除了11至14岁男性组的HbAC和15至19岁男性组的HbAS外，所有分析组均存在统计学上的显著差异。因此，Hb S和C性状的存在与较低的血细胞比容有关。由于这些性状在非裔美国儿童中的高患病率，这种降低的血细胞比容可能显著导致平均血细胞比容的种族差异。
