Hemolysis Induced by Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency and Its Associationwith Sex in Children

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (g6pd)deficiency is the most common enzyme disorder in human.the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence ofg6pd deficiency among children and evaluate its associationwith abo/rh blood groups.method: blood samples of 3401 asymptomatic children wereanalyzed and compared with 317 children who were admitted tohospital because of hemolysis resulted from g6pd deficiency.results: among asymptomatic children 375 (11%) were g6pddeficient. male to female ratio for this group was 4.2:1 and forthe hemolytic group was 2.5:1 (p=0.004). two hundred andsixty-seven (84.2%) of the patients with hemolysis wereyounger than 2 years, with the peak age of hemolysis between 2and 3 years (27.7%). the overall rate of hemolysis caused byg6pd deficiency was 12.3% during the 3 consecutive monthsof fresh fava bean consumption. blood groups o+, a+, and b+together constituted 87.1%, 87.7%, and 84% of the bloodgroups among normal children, asymptomatic g6pd deficientsubjects, and those with g6pd deficiency related hemolysisrespectively (p=0.367). seven percent of the normal childrenand asymptomatic g6pd deficient subjects were rh- vs 9.7 %of g6pd deficient children with hemolysis (p=0.16).conclusion: the prevalence of g6pd deficiency among thechildren was 11%. male to female ratio was greater in nonhemolyticvs hemolytic group so that the female share was higherin hemolytic group than in the other two groups (p=0.004).the distribution of abo blood groups was similar amongasymptomatic non-g6pd deficient, asymptomatic g6pddeficient,and g6pd-deficient children with hemolysis. thedistribution of rh- types among the g6pd-deficient childrenwith hemolysis and the other two groups was similar (9.7% vs7%, p=0.16).