Prevalence Of Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency in People Living in Katsina Metropolis

Abstract

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is one of the most prevalent human enzyme defects observed in malaria endemic areas. The study included 212 participants, with 142 (67%) male and 70 (33%) female, aged between14 to 59 with a mean age of 24.20±9.35 years. The study was granted ethical approval by the Katsina State Ministry of Health. Each subject gave his/her written informed permission after counseling. G6PD deficiency, malaria parasite, reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), packed cell volume (PCV) and hemoglobin (Hb) were assayed using standard procedures. Among the 212 participants tested in the study, 40 (19%) were found to be G6PD deficient and 172 (81%) participants were normal. Among 212 participants tested, 75 (35.4%) were infected with malaria parasite out of which 13 (17.3%) were G6PD deficient and 62 (82.7%) were normal. Among the 40 G6PD deficient subjects, 33 (82.5%) were male while 7 (17.5%) were females. GSH concentration was lowered significantly in G6PD-deficient subjects compared to the normal subjects. GPx, Hb and PCV showed no significant difference (p>0.05) in the deficient subjects compared to the normal subjects. The results of this study suggest that G6PD deficiency is quite common with a prevalence of 19% in the population of Katsina metropolis. The data also shows that males are more likely to be affected by G6PD deficiency than females.