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Maternal (Expert Forum)
Pregnant with Thalassemia Trait
Patient medical question and answer from The Maternal and Child Health Forum. Health topic area and articles about newborn care
Pregnant with Thalassemia Trait
by Maria__0, Feb 04, 1999 12:00AM
I have Thalassemia trait inherited from my Italian side of the family. I am currently 4 months pregnant and am worried about how my trait will affect the pregnancy. Am I at high risk? I show up anemic on all the test. I was told not to take Iron by one health care proffessonal, and to take extra Iron by another proffessional. I don't know what I should do, should I take Iron supplements or not? Is there anything special I should do for my pregnancy due to me having this trait?
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Dear Maria
Beta-thalassemia treat typically causes a mild anemia. In general, unless iron deficiency is also present (diagnosed by serum iron studies, hemoglobin electrophoresis, etc) iron supplementation is not needed. The anemia is from a failure of normal production of hemoglobin beta chains, not from a deficiency state.
Most patients tolerate the mild anemia quite well during pregnancy. In general, most pregnancies in thalassemia minor are uneventful.
