Haematological investigations of population samples in Jamaica

ABSTRACT

Haematological investigations have been carried out in Jamaican population samples of about 1,000 adults aged 35 to 64 years in an inland rural area, and about 500 adults of the same age in a suburban district. These formed 85 per cent. of random samples chosen from each area. The mean haemoglobin levels of women in the two areas were similar and only slightly lower than those reported in recent surveys in the United Kingdom. Men in the rural area had lower mean haemoglobin levels than in the suburban area and their mean values were more than 1 g./100 ml. lower than those in United Kingdom urban populations. Much of the anaemia detected was hypochromic and confirmed by low serum iron measurements, and hookworm is probably an important contributing factor in rural men, but as the difference in haemoglobin levels between men in the rural and suburban populations and in the United Kingdom were not accompanied by comparable differences in MCHC, factors other than iron-deficiency may contribute to them. Haemoglobin electrophoresis was carried out on 1,520 blood specimens and gene frequencies for haemoglobins, A, S, C, and G(Accra) have been calculated. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency was detected in 13.5 per cent. of men and 4.1 per cent of women in the rural area.(Summary)