title: Reduced chronic hemolysis during high-dose vitamin E administration in Mediterranean-type glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency.
abstract: The observation that high-dose oral vitamin E supplementation (800 IU per day) improved red-cell survival in two rare disorders associated with increased red-cell susceptibility to oxidative stress prompted a similar trial in 23 patients with Mediterranean glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency. Three months of vitamin E administration resulted in decreased chronic hemolysis as evidenced by improved red-cell life span (P less than 0.025), with an improvement in red-cell half-life from 22.9 +/- 0.7 days to 25.1 +/- 0.6 days (mean +/- S.E.M.), increased hemoglobin concentration (P less than 0.001), and decreased reticulocytosis (P less than 0.001) as compared with base-line values. Evaluation after one year of vitamin E administration demonstrated sustained improvement in all these indexes. Controlled clinical trials of vitamin E supplementation may be warranted to examine its efficacy in ameliorating acute hemolytic crises or in reducing morbidity from neonatal jaundice in this relatively common genetic disorder.
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004905:Erythrocyte Aging / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D005955:Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency / Q000145:classification / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006115:Greece; D006461:Hemolysis / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D014810:Vitamin E