TRANSCUTANEOUS BILIRUBIN LEVELS IN CORRELATION WITH TOTAL SERUM BILIRUBIN IN 50 NEONATES TREATED FOR NEONATAL JAUNDICE AT AL-THAWRA HOSPITAL ALBAIDA –LIBYA

Dr. Najwa H. Abduljawad*, Dr. Kamala Omar Yonis, Dr. Salem Faraj Hamad

ABSTRACT

Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in most of the cases is due to physiological factors, usually is mild and transient. The physiological neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is related to decreased bilirubin clearance from the circulation as a result of relative uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) enzyme deficiency and increased enterohepatic circulation. The pathological variety is less frequent and could be caused by immune-mediated hemolysis such as ABO /Rhesus incompatibility, hereditary spherocytosis and elliptocytosis and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency and pyruvate kinase deficiency. Aim: To assess the correlation between transcutaneous bilirubin levels and total serum bilirubin. Material and methods: Prospective cohort study of randomly selected 50 jaundiced babies managed at the Neonatal Unit of Al-Thawra Hospital –Albaida City –Libya. The data related to demographic information as gestational age weight, ethnic origin, type of milk feeding, previous use of phototherapy, pre-sternal transcutaneous bilirubin measurement using Bilirubinnometer (DRAEGER JM- 103) and simultaneous total serum bilirubin level (TSB) was collected and analyzed. Results: The gestational age ranges between 31-41 weeks with average of 38 weeks. The weight ranges from 1.2-4.3 kg, the average was 2.7 kg. Twenty percent of the cohort were preterm, the postnatal age ranges between 1-15 days with median age of 3.5 days. Only 14% of the group had phototherapy prior to the assessment, 38% had formula milk feeding and 32%. Pre-sternal transcutaneous bilirubin (TCB) ranges between 1.9-17.3 mg/, the total serum bilirubin (TSB) range was 5.16–18.77 mg/dl. Conclusion: Data analysis revealed a degree of positive correlation between serum the pre-sternal transcutaneous bilirubin and total serum bilirubin, the correlation coefficient was 0.61.

Keywords: Jaundice, transcutaneous bilirubin, Polycythemia, Bilirubinnometer, Infection.