What is Newborn Jaundice

What is Newborn Jaundice:

It is an a yellowish discoloration of a skin of the baby after birth which is more often a physiological phenomenon but needs blood testing to know the jaundice level if it is increasing or decreasing. It occurs in more than 60% of term and 70% of preterm infants, peaking at 3–5 days of life and usually resolving by 2 weeks of age. Since most term newborns go home with their mothers by 1–2 days of age, jaundice may not be apparent at the time of hospital discharge. 

How much common:

Parameters (2011census)		India/yr		World/yr
Population	1.21 b					7 b
Growth	1.6% per annum				1.2% per annum
Birth	2.7cr babies				7.7cr babies
Jaundice(60%)	1.6cr				5cr
Population below 35 yr	65%
Home  deliveries	60%
Institutional deliveries	40%

Causes 

Babies at highest risk for developing newborn jaundice include premature babies, babies getting less breast milk, babies whose blood type isn’t compatible with the blood type of their mother, bruising at birth or other internal bleeding, liver problems, an infection, an enzyme deficiency, an abnormality in your baby’s red blood cells etc.

What will happen if jaundice increases beyond certain level?   

It causes Mental retardation, Cerebral palsy (spastic child) Deafness etc. 

What is the pain in Newborn Jaundice

 Management of jaundiced neonates often requires repeat measurement of total serum bilirubin (TSB). Total serum bilirubin (TSB) is commonly determined by spectro-photometric methods by analyzing blood sample. Such techniques require repeat drawing of blood causing pain and trauma to the neonate.  On top of this bay needs to be taken to a Lab or a hospital to do the testing. Normally any mother will be more anxious when her baby is being repeatedly pricked. 'clikJaundice' technology makes it simple, easy & reliable which gives an aproximate value of Jaundice level. The testing can be done at home a soon as you observe an yellow color on your baby. 

Disadvantages with existing non invasive devices

• Expensive Rs.1.5– 2.Lakhs
• Uses spectrophotometric method which is expensive
• Skin pigmentation has a profound effect on Bilirubin value  and this has been illustrated by marked differences of the ‘y’- intercept in the regression formula for the various racial groups in different studies. The darker is the skin the greater the ‘y’- intercept.
• For infants undergoing phototherapy this relationship between TcB and serum bilirubin level appears to be disrupted (various studies)
• Bleaching as well as tanning of the skin may affect the accuracy of the Bilirubin level and the TcBI will be lower than expected for the same serum bilirubin value. (various studies)