Correlation Analysis between Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin and Mean Corpuscular Volume for Thalassemia Screening in Large Population

Correlation analysis between the hematological parameters mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) for thalassemia screening in large population was discussed. A total of 4920 peripheral blood samples of reproductive age persons were collected from Guangdong province of China. The hematological parameters MCH and MCV values of samples were first measured, and then the DNA analyses for thalassemia were conducted. All samples were composed by 4463 non-thalassemia and 457 thalassemia, and among 457 thalassemia samples, 311 were α-thalassemia, 133 were β-thalassemia, and 13 were α & β-thalassemia. In accordance with non-thalassemia, thalassemia, α-thalassemia, β-thalassemia, α & β-thalassemia and the entire group itself, a total of six sample groups were divided. The corresponding correlation coefficients between the measured MCH and MCV values for the six sample groups were 0.880, 0.968, 0.966, 0.962, 0.980 and 0.965 respectively. For the thalassemia carriers, highly significant correlation between MCH and MCV were observed. The fitting equations between MCH and MCV values were also obtained. The results indicated that the feasibility for thalassemia screening using MCV or MCH independently as parameter, and provided suitable strategy to select parameters and models for thalassemia screening in large population.