OBJECTIVETo investigate the diagnostic value and clinical significance of the glucose 6-phosphate dehy-drogenase (G6PD) activity for mediterranean anemia (MA), so as to provide the reference for early clinical diagnosis and treatment of MA.

METHODSThe peripheral blood was collected from 100 healthy persons and 168 patients with MA, then the agarose gel electrophoresis, MA gene detection, blood routine examination, serum ferrium levels and G6PD activity assay were performed, and the results of evaluating MA were comparatively analyzed.

RESULTSThe G6PD activity in all type MA patients was obviously higher than that in healthy controls (P < 0.01), the MCV value in all type MA patients was significantly lower than that in healthy controls (P < 0.01). The detection of G6PD activity showed that the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratio, diagnostic index and Youden index of G6PD for MA patients were 85.12%, 68%, 2.66, 0.219, 1.53 and 0.53 respectively, which suggest the better efficacy of G6PD value for diagnosis of MA.

CONCLUSIONThe G6PDS activity of patients with MA in different subtypes is higher than that of healthy persons, the G6PD level has a certain diagnostic value for MA, but there is an optimal range.