title: Mortality in a cohort of men expressing the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency.
abstract: The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis of a lower mortality from cancer and cardiovascular diseases among men expressing glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency. We designed a mortality study based on death certificates from January 1, 1982 through December 31, 1992 in a cohort of G6PD-deficient men. Cohort members were 1,756 men, identified as expressing the G6PD-deficient phenotype during a 1981 population screening of the G6PD polymorphism. The setting was the island of Sardinia, Italy. Outcome measures were cause-specific standardized mortality ratios (SMRs), which were computed as 100 times the observed/expected ratio, with the general Sardinian male population as the reference. Deaths from all causes were significantly less than expected due to decreased SMRs for ischemic heart disease (SMR, 28; 95% confidence interval [CI], 10 to 62), cerebrovascular disease (SMR, 22; 95% CI, 6 to 55), and liver cirrhosis (SMR, 12; 95% CI, 0 to 66), which explained 95.6% of the deficit in total mortality. All cancer mortality was close to the expectation, with a significant increase in the SMR for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (SMR, 545; 95% CI, 147 to 1,395). A decrease in mortality from cardiovascular diseases was one of the study hypotheses, based on an earlier human report and experimental evidence. However, selection bias is also a likely explanation. Further analytic studies are warranted to confirm whether subjects expressing the G6PD-deficient phenotype are protected against ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. This cohort study is consistent with more recent case-control studies in rejecting the hypothesis of a decreased cancer risk among G6PD-deficient subjects. The observed increase in mortality from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and decrease in mortality from liver cirrhosis were not previously reported.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Medicina del Lavoro, Università di Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cocco
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Todde
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fornera
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Manca
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Manca
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Sias
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005955:Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency / Q000401:mortality* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016019:Survival Analysis