Comparative Study of Haemoglobinopathies in Tribal Populations of Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura (North East India)

Screening of unrelated adolescent school children in two states of North East India- Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh- have shown presence of HbE as the major abnormal Hb in 78.05% 0f 196 children in Tripura- an incidence which was reported earlier in general population of the same area (65.01%). Our first report of tribes of Arunachal Pradesh- the north-eastern most state- shows a lower incidence of HbE (5.6% of 83 children). The value of screening of young adolescents in areas of high incidence of haemoglobinopathies cannot be overe- mphasized.