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Background and Objective: According to world health organization statistics, at least 5.2% of world population is carrier for a main hemoglobin disorder. Previous reports showed that more than 10% of people are carrier for beta-thalassemia Northern Iran. This study was done to determine the prevalance of hemoglobinopathies in premarriage individuals referred to Babolsar, Iran.

Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was carried out on 8500 individuals  (4200 women and 4300 men) whome were attended the thalassemia counseling program in Babolsar, North of Iran during 2006-09. After performing the CBC test, for those MCV and MCH were less than 80 and 27 respectively, Hemoglobin A2 was evaluated. Subjects whome were volunteers for more comprehensive tests, basic and acidic electrophoresis and genetic tests were applied, subsequently.

Results: 1200 (14.11%) subjects had low hematological indexes. 474 (5.57%) subjects had high HbA2 and were classified as beta-thalassemia carriers and 726 (8.54%) had normal HbA2 level and were classified as alpha-thalassemia carriers. 6 (1.2%) subjects were identified with HbF level more than 10 and were identified as carriers for beta-gene cluster deletion carrier. Also, 16 (3.2%) individuals had HbE, 16 (3.2%) had HbS, 4 had HbD and 4 had HbH (0.33% in 1200 and 0.047% in 8500 subjects). Genetic study of 317 individuals for beta carriers and 145 subjects for alpha-carriers showed IVSII-1G>A (74.5%) in beta-globin and single gene deletion of 3.7 (47.5%) in alpha-globin genes were the most frequent mutations.

Conclusion: This study showed that carriers for alpha - thalassemia (8.5%) are more frequent compared with beta- thalassemia (5.57%). Also other hemoglobin variants included HbS, HbE, HbD or different beta-gene cluster deletions in the region are considerable and should be screened.

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Background and Objective: Hemoglobinopathies are among the most prevalent genetic disorders worldwide, and occur as a result of mutations in the gene involved in synthesizing hemoglobin chains. By now more than 1000 defects in hemoglobin chains are discovered. Hemoglobin D (Hb D) is one of these disorders, identified by a single nucleotide mutation on codon 121 of beta globin chain. This study was carried out to evaluate Hb D mutations through molecular methods in Mazandaran province of Iran. Materials and Methods: This descriptive laboratory study was done on 70 patients with an electrophoresis band in hemoglobin-S zone in Mazandaran province of Iran during 2010-11. Capillary zone electrophoresis was done to find out Hb D in 51 patients. Subsequently, PCR-RFLP was performed to evaluate the samples at molecular level. Results: Molecular investigation revealed all cases are carriers of hemoglobin D-Punjab. Two patients were shown to be homozygote carriers of the abnormal gene. Conclusion: This study showed all Hb D affected patients were carriers of Hb D Punjab.