Frequency of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency among febrile patients in malaria-endemic communities in southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) enzyme plays an active role in survival of erythrocytes. The deficiency of G6PD in the red blood cells is a clinical problem attributed to neonatal jaundice and chronic hemolytic anemia. Three hundred and thirty three blood samples were collected from consenting participants and screened for G6PD using methaemoglobin reductase method and malaria parasite microscopically by using Giemsa staining technique. The data obtained were analyzed with SPSS (version 16) software as statistical tool with p value ≤ 0.05 as level of significance. The prevalence of G6PD deficiency in male and female participants was 27.2% and 19.2% respectively. There was no significant association between G6PD deficiency and sex (0.086). Fifty 50 (15%) of samples were positive for malaria (P. falciparum associated) with prevalence rate of 10.2% among female as against 4.6% found among male counterparts. There was significant association between malaria and gender (p-value = 0.04). Also, the rate of G6PD was higher in male (27.2%) than in female (19.5%) participants but not statistically significant (0.086). Low level of both G6PD deficiency and malaria (2.4%) was found. Due to possibility of G6PD deficiency, there is need for the diagnosis of G6PD in the management of malaria.