Table 2.

Prevalence of G6PD deficiency in Venezuelan individuals from Sifontes and Cajigal municipalities and G6PD gene alleles from subjects with biochemical deficiency

Geographical setting	Gender	TOTAL	G6PD determination results
			Biochemical test*		DNA analysis(**)
			Normal(a)	G6PDd(#, b)	Wild-type allele	202G → A allele	376A → G allele
Cajigal municipality (Sucre state) n = 332	F	163	156 (95.7)	7 (4.3)	3	4	4
	M	169	156 (92.3)	13 (7.7)	1	11	12
Sifontes municipality (Bolívar state) n = 332	F	164	163 (99.4)	1 (0.6)	1	0	0
	M	168	165 (98.2)	3 (1.8)	0	2	3
		664	640 (96.4)	24 (3.6)	5 (20.8)	17 (70.8)	19 (79.2)

Data are in number (percentage) of cases for each condition

F females, M males, G6PDd G6PD-deficient subjects

^# p = 0.001 by Fisher’s exact test for the comparison of G6PD deficiency prevalence among subjects of Cajigal vs. Sifontes municipality

* The biochemical test used was a NeoLiSA G6PD assay (Interscientific^®, Hollywood, USA). p < 0.0001 by Student’s test for comparison of mean G6PD enzyme activity among normal and G6PDd subjects

** DNA analysis by PCR/RFLP and sequencing of the exons 4–8 of G6PD gene from subjects with biochemical deficiency. The other alleles, which were studied by sequencing (185C → A, 542A → T, 592C → T, 593G → C, 634A → G, 637G → T, 680G → A, 820G → A, 835A → T, 854G → A and 871G → A) resulted wild-type

^aMean G6PD enzyme activity of 12.9 ± 3.8 U/g Hb [defined as Class IV (in 84 %) and V (in 2 %) (data not shown)], according to WHO criteria (33, 34)

^bMean G6PD enzyme activity of 4.5 ± 1.2 U/g Hb (defined as moderately deficient enzyme, Class III, according to WHO criteria [33, 34]. p = 0.007 among G6PDd males and females compared by Student’s test