Comparison of Invasive Measurement and Two Non-Invasive Measurements in the Diagnosis of Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia

Abstract

Aim: Reliable non-invasive methods are required for the diagnosis of indirect hyperbilirubinemia (IHB) in infants. We compared the measured total serum bilirubin (TSB) levels against the transcutaneous and BiliCam methods. Materials and Methods: This analytical study was performed in a neonatal intensive care unit of a hospital in Turkey. We included 70 infants whose families gave voluntary and written consent, including those infants with a low, medium, and high risk of hyperbilirubinemia, birth weight >1,500 g, and late preterm infants. We measured the TSB and compared it with bilirubin levels obtained via the transcutaneous and BiliCam measurement methods. The relationships between the data were determined using descriptive statistical methods; continuous data showing normal distribution were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient, and data that were not normally distributed were analyzed using Spearman correlation analysis. Results: A statistically significant and positive correlation was observed between the levels of TSB and transcutaneous bilirubin before phototherapy (PT), whereas a moderate relationship was observed in these values after PT (p<0.01). A significant positive and moderate relationship was observed between the TSB levels and bilirubin levels measured using BiliCam before PT (p<0.01), and a weak relationship was observed between these values after PT (p<0.05). Conclusion: Our results show that considering measurement of TSB as a reference method, the transcutaneous and BiliCam methods can be used as screening methods to detect IHB.