Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) among Indian Tribal Population-A review

India is a very vast country with a huge cultural and linguistic diversity and that leads to population specific dietary patterns and life styles which increase the importance of population specific risk factors for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency. India is the world's second-most populous country. Its population grew by 17.64% during 2001–2011 in which tribals constitute 8.61% of the total population of the country (2011 Census) and cover about 15% area of the country. Glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is an Xlinked recessive genetic defect, affecting around 400 million people worldwide. Malaria endemic areas are highly polymorphic for deficiency of this enzyme. In India, more than 50 years ago the evidences were reported about deficiency of G6PD. The universality varies from 2.3% to 27.3%with an overall presence of 7.7% in different tribal groups. There are more chances of deficiency of G6PD and because of the fact the tribal people need special attention for their low social, economic and participatory indicators. High maternal and child mortality, lack of medical care, size of agricultural holdings or access to drinking water and electricity, tribal communities lag far behind as compared to the general populations. Since the tribal populations live in remote areas where malaria is an endemic and irrational use of antimalarial drugs could result in an increased number of cases with drug induced haemolysis. The routine screening for G6PD deficiency should be carried out in those tribal communities where its universality is found before giving anti-malarial therapy. The frequency of mutations causing G6PD deficiency has not been well explained in India.