The incidence of alpha-thalassemia in iraqi turks.

TO THE EDITOR

I read the article on the “The incidence of alpha-thalassemiain Iraqi Turks”. Esmale et al showed that 8 ofthe 83 participants were diagnosed with alpha-thalassemiaan incidence rate of 9.6% and particularly 3.7 kb deletionin Iraqi Turkmens [1].

Although the incidence studies of alpha thalassemia inTurkey are rare, more frequently hemoglobin H diseasehas been observed in south of Turkey, The molecular basisof Hb H disease was studied and mutations - α3.7, -α4.2,-MED-I and - α 20.5 were found to be responsible for thedisease [2,3].

The frequency of alpha-thalassemia was 3.6% amongTurkish newborns in a study that employed globin genemapping analysis of DNA [4]. In our study, in 13 out of205 cord blood samples alpha-thalassemia was found6.3%. There was mistake at incidence so hat we improvedwith erratum [5]. The incidence of β-thalassemia traitwas very high level, the incidence of α-thalassemia traitwas also found high level (6.3%) in Antalya district.

We are observing a lot of uncertain couples with alphathalassemia in premarital screening tests in hemoglobinopathydiagnosis center of in Antalya, it needs moleculardiagnostic test to all of them.

As conclusion, the incidence of alpha-thalassemia wasmuch higher in the Iraqi Turks in the present study thanthat reported in studies from Turkey. It needs more moleculardiagnostic studies in especially adults in Turkey.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

The authors of this paper have no conflicts of interest,including specific financial interests, relationships, and/or affiliations relevant to the subject matter or materialsincluded.