Guidance

Beta thalassaemia carrier: description in brief

Information for pregnant women to understand what it means to be a beta thalassaemia carrier.

• From: NHS England
• Published: 1 January 2012
• Last updated: 5 March 2026
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  1. 5 March 2026

     Replaced text on landing page (‘Refer to how to print digital leaflets if you need to provide a copy of this guidance for someone who cannot access the internet’) with ‘To request another format, you can phone 0300 311 22 33 or email england.contactus@nhs.net.’

  2. 5 February 2025

     Updated NHS England contact information

  3. 2 October 2020

     Updated and reformatted as HTML.

  4. 28 November 2018

     Addition of Urdu translation for 'Beta thalassaemia carrier' information leaflet.

  5. 19 April 2018

     Updated leaflet with new statement on use of personal data and copyright.

  6. 1 January 2012

     First published.

Documents

Your antenatal blood test result: you are a beta thalassaemia carrier

HTML

Details

A blood test can identify adults who carry the gene for beta thalassaemia.

This publication explains about being a carrier and how this can affect an individual and their family.

It explains:

• what a beta thalassaemia carrier is
• possible conditions a baby could inherit from a carrier
• genetic inheritance for haemoglobin disorders
• what the result means for other people in the family

To request another format, you can phone 0300 311 22 33 or email england.contactus@nhs.net.