Neonatal umbilical cord blood bilirubin as a biomarker for hyperbilirubinemia required phototherapy

Abstract

Jaundice is clinical condition characterized by transient deficiency of bilirubin conjugation, leading to neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. Therefore, it is of interest to assess cord blood bilirubin as a predictor for neonatal hyper-bilirubinemia (HB) needing phototherapy in full-term neonates. In 220 neonates with HB were assigned as cases and without HB as controls. The mean cord blood bilirubin level was 2.64ą0.63 and total serum bilirubin estimated on 3rd day of life was 16.14ą1.4. Umbilical cord blood bilirubin estimation is a non-invasive, economical and simple method of predicting subsequent neonatal hyper-bilirubinemia that can help clinicians for early discharge of normal neonates and follow-up in high-risk infants.