Correlation of transcutaneous and serum bilirubin levels in infants with neonatal jaundice hospitalized in Hajar Hospital in Shahrekord

Background and Aim: Bilirubin level measurement through BiliCheck device can be a useful method in diagnosing neonatal jaundice due to no need for frequent blood-taking. Thus, the present study aimed to compare serum and transcutaneous bilirubin levels in infants with neonatal jaundice hospitalized in Hajar Hospital in Shahrekord. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-correlation study, 417 infants with neonatal jaundice were examined. A questionnaire including demographic information (age and weight of infant at the time of reception, weight at the time of birth, age of pregnancy, and infant sex) was completed. As the infants were hospitalized, the blood-taking were done to control serum bilirubin based on the routine stages of the unit and transcutaneous Bilirubin level was controlled by BiliCheck device and the data were recorded. Pearson coefficient and independent t-test statistical analysis were used through SPSS software. Results: From the total of 417 infants under this study, 322 infants were term and 95 infants were preterm. 51.3% were male and 48.7% were female. Weight average of term infants was 3081467.88 and in the preterm infants, it was 2335572.44 gram. The results indicated the linear coefficient was direct and meaningful between the serum and transcutaneous bilirubin levels in term and preterm infants. ‍Conclusion: The findings suggested that mean difference of bilirubin levels on these two methods of measurement in term infants in different days were meaningful while there is no significant mean difference in preterm infants indicating the efficacy of this device in measuring bilirubin levels in preterm infants