Abstract: Objective To analyze HbA₂ level and indexes of red blood cells （RBCs） in patients with iron deficiency anemia （IDA） and alpha thalassemia （α-THAL） so as to provide a reference for the differential diagnosis of anemia.Methods A total of 4 156 pregnant women for routine prenatal examinations were screened in the hospital from 2016 to 2017,among them 120 cases of normal control,240 cases of IDA group and 80 cases of α-THAL group were collected. HbA₂and RBCs of the pregnant women of the three groups were compared.Results Compared with the normal group,seven RBCs indexes in IDA group significantly changed,and the level of HbA₂ decreases. The RBCs indexes in α-THAL group,except for RDW,were notably altered and HbA₂ level was decreased. A significant difference of RBCs,MCV,RDW,and HbA₂ contents was noted between IDA and α-THAL groups. The RDW detection gave rise to 77.5% of specificity and 95.0% of sensitivity whereas the detections of MCV,RBC,and HbA2 resulted in 81.3%,77.5%,and 83.8% of specificity and 93.3%,86.7%,and 87.5% of sensitivity,respectively.Conclusion sThe HbA₂ and indexes of RBCs may help differenciate iron deficiency anemia from α-thalassemia. The RDW is highly specific and sensitive in identification of iron deficiency anemia. HbA₂ combined with SF is quite useful for diagnosis of patients with α-thalassemia.

Key words: HbA₂, Red blood cell distribution width, Iron deficiency anemia, Alpha thalassemia