Résumé
Favism is an acute hemolytic anemia which occurs in G6PD deficient individuals by ingestion of fava beans or inhalation of fava plant's pollens. Awareness of clinical features and laboratory findings of this life threatening condition is first step in proper management and prevention of its complications.This retrospective descriptive study presents five years' data on hospitalized cases of favism in Tehran. Data were collected from Mofid University7 Hospital for Children. We reviewed all in-patient charts for cases of favism who presented with acute hemolytic crisis due to fava beans ingestion from March 1995 to March 2001. Data on demographic and clinical features [e.g. pallor, dark urine and jaundice] and laboratory findings [e.g. serum concentrations of hemoglobin, creatinine, total and direct bilirubin, liver transaminases, reticulocyte count, direct Coomb's test, qualitative G6PD measurement, and presence of hemoglobin, bilirubin, and urobilinogen in urine], positive family history of favism and history about blood transfusion were evaluated.A total of 523 cases were recorded of whom 75.7% were male. The mean age of our patients was 27.7 months +/- 46.4. Dark urine, pallor and jaundice were common manifestations of favism [96.6%, 75.3%, and 70% respectively]. Male gender was significantly associated with pallor and hemoglobin