305
Views
6
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Prevalence of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency and diagnostic challenges in 1500 immigrants in Denmark examined for haemoglobinopathies

, , &
Pages 390-397 | Received 29 Oct 2014, Accepted 17 Mar 2015, Published online: 30 Apr 2015
 

Abstract

Similar to the thalassaemia syndromes, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is highly prevalent in areas historically exposed to malaria. In the present study, we used quantitative and molecular methods to determine the prevalence of G6PD deficiency in a population of 1508 immigrants in Denmark. We found the allele frequency to be between 2.4 and 2.9% in the female immigrants. Furthermore, the mutation pattern in the studied population showed a high prevalence of the G6PD A-202A variant in African and African-American immigrants, a high prevalence of the G6PD Mediterranean variant in Mediterranean European and Western Asian immigrants, and substantial heterogeneity in the variants found in the Eastern Asian/Pacific immigrants. Inasmuch as many of the patients included in this investigation had various thalassaemic syndromes, we were able to evaluate the effects of the interaction between a low mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) value and G6PD activity, particularly in heterozygous females. The activity level was markedly influenced by the MCH value in females with normal G6PD activity, but not in heterozygous and homozygous females. Comparison of patients with normal G6PD activity and heterozygous females indicated considerable overlap in activity levels. To help separating heterozygous females from females with wild-type genes, a DNA analysis is necessary when the female activity level is between 4.0 and 4.9 U/g hgb corresponding to 50–60% of the median activity of unaffected males.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the technical staff of the Laboratory of Department of Haematology Herlev Hospital for skilful assistance. The study was supported by the Haemoglobinopathy Foundation, Herlev Hospital.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Supplementary material available online

Supplementary Table I available online at http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/00365513.2015.1031692

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.