Preliminary experience with the differential pH technique for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) measurement in whole blood: application to an area with high prevalence of thalassaemia and G6PD deficiency.

A new differential pH technique for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase quantitative determination in whole blood has been evaluated. It is a rapid (90 s/analysis), reproducible (C.V. within-run 3.7%; between-run: 2.8%) and accurate method (in comparison with WHO method: r = 0.970). Reference intervals in non-deficient males were evaluated in 167 non-thalassaemics and in 60 beta-thal heterozygotes. The G6PD activity in beta-thalassaemia carriers is higher than in normals; this is particularly true if the activity is expressed in terms of U/g Hb. The phenotypic distribution measured in females is in agreement with that calculated by the Hardy-Weinberg law based on the incidence of the Gd(-) gene in males.