DISCRIMINATIVE PERFORMANCE OF HEMATOLOGICAL PARAMETERS FOR IDENTIFYING Β-THALASSEMIA CARRIERS: A SECONDARY ANALYSIS OF AN OPEN-ACCESS SCREENING DATASET

β-thalassemia is an inherited hemoglobin disorder characterized by reduced or absent β-globin chain production. Individuals with β-thalassemia trait are usually clinically asymptomatic or have mild hematological abnormalities, but their laboratory profile may overlap with other causes of microcytosis. To compare hematological parameters between individuals classified as normal and β-thalassemia carriers and to assess the discriminatory performance of selected parameters using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. A secondary analysis was performed using an open- access hematological screening dataset containing complete blood count and hemoglobin analysis results. The analysis included 12,345 participants: 11,783 classified as normal and 562 classified as β-thalassemia carriers. Hb, RBC, MCV, MCH, MCHC, HbA2, and HbF were compared using the Mann–Whitney U test. ROC analysis was performed for MCV, HbA2, MCH, and RBC. The carrier group had lower Hb, MCV, and MCH and higher RBC, HbA2, and HbF than the normal group. MCV had an AUC of 0.956, HbA2 0.953, MCH 0.948, and RBC 0.788. MCV, MCH, and HbA2 showed strong discriminatory performance for identifying β-thalassemia carriers. The derived cutoffs may support preliminary screening but require validation in independent populations.