Comparative study: high pressure liquid chromatography versus hemoglobin electrophoresis. Diagnosis of sickle cell anemia

Abstract

Sickle cell anemia (SCD) is the most common inherited hemoglobinopathy in the world. The definitive diagnosis is made by hemoglobin electrophoresis (EFH), which is relatively expensive. For this reason, when the diagnosis is suspected, sodium metabisulfite 2% (MS2) is requested, which is cheaper, but only provides qualitative results, and with reliability depending on who interprets. A low-cost alternative with greater diagnostic certainty is sought. Objective: Describe and compare the Hemoglobin S (HbS) values obtained by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and hemoglobin electrophoresis. Patients and Methods: quantitative, descriptive, non-experimental research in the communities of Masca and Pueblo Nuevo, Omoa, Cortes, in 2017. The communities have 2545 inhabitants, from whom a probabilistic sample of 369 was taken. We found 20 people with Positive MS2. In these 20 cases, HPLC and EFH were also requested. The data was analyzed with SPSS version 23, calculating frequencies, percen- tages and measures of central tendency. Results: 50% of the cases were phenotypically mestizo. The HPLC values were between 26.1% and 68.3% and those of hemoglobin electrophore- sis between 27.3% and 100%. The arithmetic mean for HPLC was 35.53 vs 45.3 for EFH. Conclusion: The Hb S value measured by EFH is close to that obtained by HLPC, so this method could be used for a faster diagnosis and at a lower cost.