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40 full-term newborn infants with erythrocyte glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) deficiency were used for a study concerning the effectiveness of agar per os in preventing severe hyperbilirubinemia. 20 randomly selected neonates were given agar(l g/kg/day) orally in 4 daily doses from their 1st to their 5th day of life. 20 infants were not treated and served as controls. Three exchange transfusions were performed in the experimental as well as in the control group. According to these results, agar does not seem to be effective in preventing severe hyperbilirubinemia, which frequently occurs in newborn infants with erythrocyte G-6-PD deficiency.

Prophylactic treatment with barbituric acid has been made for preventing severe hyperbilirubinemia in G-6-PD deficient newborn infants. In 17 out of 46 untreated and in 7 out of 171 treated cases exchange transfusions were needed since the biliriibin serum level exceeded 18 mg/100 ml. These data show that this prevention can be useful in areas, such as Sardinia, where the incidence of G-6-PD deficiency is very high. It has been further demonstrated that this particular form of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is not due to increased red cell destruction.

Salicylamide glucuronide formation has been studied in 23 newborn babies with erythrocyte G-6-PD deficiency and in 15 normal newborns on the first day of life. Glucuronide formation was significantly lower (p < 0.001) in the former in comparison with the controls. In the newborns with G-6-PD deficiency who subsequently became hyperbilirubinemic an even lower mean glucuronide formation was observed (p < 0.01) in respect to the non-jaundiced G-6-PD-deficient newborns.