Comparison of Light Emitting Diode Phototherapy vs Conventional Phototherapy for Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia: A Quasi-experimental Study

Introduction: Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is one of the most common problem encountered during the neonatal period. Phototherapy is a widely accepted, cheap, non-invasive relatively safe and effective method of treatment for neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. Aim: To compare the efficacy of Light Emitting Diode (LED) phototherapy vs Conventional Phototherapy for treatment of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in healthy term neonates. Materials and Methods: A quasi experimental study was conducted in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Post-natal wards in a tertiary care hospital affiliated to Medical College and Hospital, Ahmedabad, Gujarat from July 2018 to April 2019 with a sample size of 135 in each group. They were assessed clinically by Kramers method just before initiation of phototherapy, then using Transcutaneous Bilirubinometer (TCB) Total Serum Bilirubin (TSB) level was measured. Bilirubin assessment by these methods were done for every neonate before initiation of phototherapy and then again repeated after 24 and 48 hours of phototherapy. Data was collected and analysed in Microsoft (MS) excel Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 0.26. Chi-square test was used for comparison. Results: In the present study, 158 (58.51%) babies were male and 112 (41.48%) babies were female. Initially, LED was found to be better than Compact Fluorescent (CFL) conventional phototherapy on comparing the average fall in the serum bilirubin level from baseline during the first 24 hours however no such difference in the efficacy between the two light sources was seen after a period of 48 hours. Total 9 (6.66%) patients developed rebound hyperbilirubinemia after completion of conventional phototherapy whereas 14 (10.37%) developed rebound hyperbilirubinemia after completion of 48 hours of LED phototherapy. Conclusion: LED and conventional phototherapy were equally efficacious in managing non haemolytic hyperbilirubinemia in healthy term neonates.