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 2.64 ± 0.63 and total serum bilirubin estimated on 3^rd day of life was 16.14 ± 1.4. 3^rd 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.