Prediction of hyper-bilirubinemia in healthy neonates using umbilical cord blood bilirubin

Jaundice is a clinical condition characterized by transient deficiency of bilirubin conjugation, leading to neonatal hyper-bilirubinemia. Therefore, it is of interest to assess cord blood bilirubin at birth as a predictor of neonatal hyper-bilirubinemia needing phototherapy in full-term neonates. In 220 neonates with hyper-bilirubinemia needing phototherapy were assigned as cases and without hyper-bilirubinemia as controls to assess association in serum total bilirubin and cord blood bilirubin were assessed after identifying the cut-off level of cord blood bilirubin. The mean cord blood bilirubin level was 2.64ą0.63 and total serum bilirubin estimated on 3rd day of life was 16.14ą1.4. 3rd day serum bilirubin and cord blood bilirubin were correlated positively with the (r=0.087). 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.