Hemoglobin variants in patients with anemia at the Carlos Centeno hospital, Siuna, Nicaragua

Abstract

Human hemoglobin can present alterations known as hemoglobinopathies, caused by autosomal hereditary disorders. Hemoglobin variants can be of two types: qualitative or structural and quantitative, these are increasingly common in the population as a result of the increase in human migration flows.  High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is the method used for the separation of hemoglobins in this study, since it has the ability to detect some hemoglobin variants, among the main ones are HbE, HbD, HbS, and HbC.  The aim of this research is to focus on the ethnic group and the detection of hemoglobin variants in patients with anemia, which is a topic of great interest in healthcare since the health of ethnic groups must be maintained and cared for.  The study area was the Carlos Centeno Hospital in Siuna, located on the North Caribbean Coast, 318 km from the capital of Nicaragua, Managua. The study was conducted with 67 patients with anemia, of all ages and both sexes. The results showed that the predominant sex was female with 63%, the most prominent age range was 11-15 years with 12%, 75% of the patients were of Mestizo ethnicity, 12% of Mayangna ethnicity, 7% of Miskitu ethnicity and 6% of Creole ethnicity. 81% of the patients with anemia have not been diagnosed with any hemoglobinopathy S and 19% of the patients diagnosed with anemia are due to the presence of hemoglobinopathies by HPLC.