How Do I Find Out if I Have Sickle Cell Trait?

To find out if you have sickle cell trait, ask a parent or your doctor if they know the results of your newborn screening test (a test all new babies get to check for a group of health problems). If they don’t know, your doctor can send you for a blood test to find out if you have sickle cell trait.

This simple blood test has a big name: It's called a hemoglobin electrophoresis (pronounced: HEE-muh-glow-bin eh-lek-truh-fer-EE-sis) test. It measures your hemoglobin, the part of your red blood cells that carries oxygen. Doctors also use the test to find out if someone has sickle cell disease, thalassemia, or other health problems that affect the blood.

After you get the hemoglobin electrophoresis test, your doctor will tell you what the test results mean.