[Clinical study on the prevention of kernicterus caused by hereditary glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency].

A combined preventive scheme was conducted in four hospitals in Guangzhou to lower the rate of kernicterus and mental retardation caused by related neonatal jaundice due to G6PD deficiency. Observation was focused on 330 G6PD deficient infants, and the effects were measured according to the incidence of hyperbilirubinemia and kernicterus. The results, as compared to those of a retrospective study, showed that the incidence of hyperbilirubinemia was significantly decreased (51.4% to 21.2%), and neither kernicterus nor mental retardation infant was found in this series (12.5% in the control group). The authors conclude that this combined scheme is extremely effective and can be used in any large population area in which there is a high gene frequency of G6PD deficiency.