A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RATE OF FALL OF TOTAL SERUM BILIRUBIN IN JAUNDICED BABIES FOLLOWING CONTINUOUS AND INTERMITTENT PHOTOTHERAPY

• Main Authors: Bhubanesh Kumar Bhatta, P S Shrestha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Nepal Medical Association 2003-09-01
• Series: Journal of Nepal Medical Association
• Online Access: http://jnma.com.np/jnma/index.php/jnma/article/view/620

Jaundice is observed during the first week of life in approximately 60% of term infants and 80% of preterm infants.1 Out of the 60% only 5% term and 20% preterm actually need treatment2 like phototherapy. The objective of the study was to calculate rate of fall of total serum bilirubin in jaundiced babies following continuous and intermittent phototherapy. A non-randomized, group matched, prospective, experimental study involving two comparable populations of 91 jaundiced babies receiving intermittent (45 babies - 6 hour on and 6 hour off) and continuous phototherapy (46 babies) were studied at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital over a period of six months. The percent fall of total serum bilirubin for each 24-hour on first, second, third and fourth day of phototherapy was -9.724% (SD 25.094), 4.717% (SD 17.52), 7.468% (SD 7.811) and 7.349% (SD 4.482) respectively in continuous phototherapy. The corresponding figures for intermittent phototherapy were -13.623% (SD 26.804), 1.131% (SD 19.965), 7.672% (SD 15.365) and 12.864% (SD 8.29). The differences were statistically insignificant on the first, second and third day (p=0.51, p=0.60 and p=0.95 respectively). On the fourth day it was higher with the intermittent phototherapy (p=0.04). The total duration of photo exposure was 64.435 hours (SD 22.251) in the continuous phototherapy group as compared to 35.581 hours (SD 12.855) in the intermittent phototherapy group (p=0.000001). In view of the concern, which has been raised regarding the possible long-term side effects of phototherapy, intermittent phototherapy offers an attractive therapeutic alternative by reducing the duration of light exposure to about half without decreasing the efficacy. Key Words: Neonatal jaundice, phototherapy.