Evaluation of Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency without Hemolysis in Icteric Newborns

Objective: Glucose-6- phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is an inherited deficiency thatmay be the cause of neonatal jaundice. Our aim was to study the prevalence of G6PD deficiencywithout hemolysis in relation to neonatal jaundice.Material Methods: This prospective descriptive study has been conducted on 272 ictericnewborns admitted to the Ekbatan Hospital from October 2002 to September 2004. The datasetincluded: age, sex, total and direct bilirubin, hemoglobin, reticulocyte count, blood group and Rhof mother and newborn, direct Coombs, G6PD level and the type of treatment. All data wasanalyzed by using statistical method.Findings: From 272 neonates, 12 neonates (4.4%) were found to have G6PD deficiency. Themale to female ratio was 5 to 1 (10 male and 2 female neonates). From 12 neonates with G6PDdeficiency, hemolysis was seen in 5 neonates (41.7%) and the rate of G6PD deficiency withouthemolysis was 2.6%. There was no difference in the mean bilirubin level, hemoglobin level andalso reticulocyte count between patients with G6PD deficiency and those without G6PDdeficiency (p 0.05). Out of 12 patients with G6PD deficiency, 2 patients (16.7%) had bloodexchange transfusion. Rh and ABO incompatibility were not seen in any of the12 patients withG6PD deficiency.Conclusion: In this study the prevalence of G6PD deficiency in icteric newborns was considerablyhigh and most of them were non hemolytic, so we recommend G6PD test as a screening programfor every newborn at the time of delivery.