A program for the detection of thalassemias and other hemoglobinopathies in 
high-risk populations is described. This program, based on two screening tests, 
was applied to the Hellenic Army recruits and was found to work well. Red cell 
one-point osmotic fragility was used for the detection of thalassemic samples 
and hemoglobin electrophoresis for screening of other hemoglobinopathies. 
Samples with decreased red cell osmotic fragility and/or abnormal 
electrophoretic pattern were submitted for further detailed investigation. 
Following this program, 64,814 recruits, representing 0.651% of the total Greek 
population and 9.917% of the 20-year-old Greek male population, were tested. 
beta-Thalassemia was found with an average incidence of 5.476% and 
alpha-Thalassemia with an incidence of 0.201%. Hemoglobinopathy Lepore was 
detected in 51 samples (0.079%) and hemoglobinopathy-S in 352 samples (0.543%).