Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Favism/genetics , Favism/epidemiology , Phenotype , Polymorphism, GeneticABSTRACT
We attempted to characterize biochemically glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase [G6PD] variants in Iraqi individuals. Thus 758 healthy Iraqi males aged 18-60 years were randomly selected and 46 [6.1%] were G6PD deficient. Although the predominant non-deficient G6PD phenotype was G6PD B [92.6%], G6PD A+ was found in polymorphic frequency [1.3%]. In the deficient group, 31 cases were fully characterized, including 17 cases with features consistent with G6PD Mediterranean variant, while 12 had other biochemical features and were labelled as non-Mediterranean variant. The remaining two deficient cases were characterized as G6PD A- variant. The presence of a significant number of non-Mediterranean variant was unexpected and may be related to the more heterogeneous background of the Iraqi people
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Case-Control Studies , Electrophoresis, Cellulose Acetate , Molecular Epidemiology , Erythrocytes/enzymology , Favism/epidemiology , Gene Frequency/genetics , Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase/genetics , Phenotype , Polymorphism, Genetic/genetics , /geneticsABSTRACT
Favism, a hemolytic condition associated with fava bean consumption among the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficient persons, is well described in the Middle East and Mediterranean areas. However, it is not well documented among the Thais or other Southeast Asians. It is possible that it does exist but that hemolysis which develops is of very minor degree and thus escapes clinical detection. This cross-sectional study hypothesizes that if the fava bean and G6PD deficiency interact in the Thai population, they should cause a significant difference in hematocrit level. The study was carried out in a community hospital in a malaria endemic area. We found that there was a trivial difference of the hematocrit (approximately 1%) which was too small to warrant any clinical significance after controlling for the extraneous effects of age, sex, use of malaria chemoprophylaxis, falciparum infection, use of analgesics/antipyretics and admission status of the patients (p = 0.668). This may be due to the presence of different G6PD mutants to those found elsewhere or due to different consumption patterns of fava beans among the Thais compared to people in other areas with high prevalence of G6PD deficiency.