Abstract

Objective: Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is a very common clinical problem encountered by neonates especially in the first week of life. There is an accumulation of bilirubin in the skin and the mucous membrane that causes yellow discoloration of the skin and sclera of the neonates. A Newborn should be examined and monitored for hyperbilirubinemia to prevent brain damage. Wet and dry chemistry methods for evaluating TBiL (total bilirubin) and NBIL (neonatal bilirubin) are available.

Methods: 100 neonates of age two days having physiological jaundice were included in the study. Their serum samples were evaluated for TBiL (total bilirubin) using wet chemistry diazo method and neonatal bilirubin (NBiL) using dry chemistry (reflectance spectrophotometry technology) on Vitros (Ortho Clinical Diagnostics USA) analyzer.

Results: The mean (SD) of NBiL was 8.436 (1.02) mg/dl and that of TBiL was 8.44 (0.56) mg/dl. The mean difference [95% confidence intervals] between the two methods was 0.004[-0.0889 to 0.0969]. The correlation between the two methods was calculated by Pearson’s correlation coefficient of 0.971 with an average bias of 0.1 %.

Conclusion: Neonatal bilirubin (NBiL) and total bilirubin (TBiL) can both be used in assessing neonatal jaundice.