Correlation between Hemolysis and Jaundice in Glucose 6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficient Neonates

Glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is an enzyme deficiency of the red blood cells and the most important disease of hexose monophosphate pathway. The role of hemolysis in the pathophysiology of neonatal jaundice due to G6PD deficiency is in contencious. Our aim is to study the role of hemolysis in neonatal jaundice associated with G6PD deficiency. This prospective descriptive study has been done on 244 neonates who were admitted with the symptoms and signs of icter to the Ali-Asghar Children Hospital, affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, during April 2006 to April 2007. Two groups of the babies, G6PD-defcient with neonatal jaundice and G6PD-normal with neonatal jaundice, were compared based on the parameters related to hemolysis such as hemoglobin, reticulocyte count and bilirubin level. The criteria of hemolysis in our study were reticulocyte count more than >5% and hemoglobin less than <14 mg/dl. Our data have shown that 14 (5.7%) of 244 neonates with the chief complain of icter suffered G6PD-deficiency with high male to female ratio (3.6 to 1). The mean hemoglobin levels and reticulocyte counts (16.72 vs. 16.97 and %2.48 vs. %2.79 respectively) did not differ significantly between both groups (P>0.05). The present study indicate, G6PD- deficiency as a major cause of neonatal jaundice and hemolysis is not a main determinant of neonatal jaundice in G6PD-deficient babies and most of them have non hemolytic jaundice.