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Jaundice, Neonatal: Follow-up
Updated: May 4, 2009
Follow-up
Further Inpatient Care
- Infants who have been treated for neonatal jaundice can be discharged when they are adequately feeding and have had 2 successive serum bilirubin levels demonstrating a trend towards lower values.
- If the hospital does not routinely screen newborns for auditory function, ordering such tests prior to discharge is advisable in infants who have had severe jaundice.
- The 2004 AAP guideline recommends a systematic risk assessment for hyperbilirubinemia risk in all infants before discharge.8 Parents should be provided with verbal and written information about jaundice.
Further Outpatient Care
- In the era of early discharge, newborns released within the first 48 hours of life need to be reassessed for jaundice within 1-2 days. The use of the hour-specific bilirubin nomogram may assist in selecting infants with a high likelihood of developing significant hyperbilirubinemia. The 2004 AAP guidelines emphasize the importance of universal systematic assessment for the risk of severe hyperbilirubinemia.8 Guidelines from the European Society for Pediatric Research reiterates the same principles.11
- Near-term infants are at higher risk than term infants of developing significant jaundice and merit closer surveillance.12
- The question of universal bilirubin screening has received attention and is the subject of debate. Some data suggest that predischarge bilirubin screening reduces the number of infants with severe jaundice, as well as the rate of hospital readmissions.13,14 Others have found that home nurse visiting was cost-effective and prevented readmissions for jaundice and dehydration.15 However, the cost-effectiveness of preventing kernicterus by universal screening has been questioned.16 It appears that agreement has not yet been reached on this issue.
- Telephone consultations are not recommended because parental reports cannot be appropriately gauged. Recently, numerous infants have developed kernicterus, resulting, at least in part, from inadequate communication between practitioners or their representatives and parents.
- The availability of new devices for transcutaneous measurement of bilirubin levels should facilitate follow-up evaluations of infants discharged before 48 hours of life.
- Home phototherapy is used in an effort to limit the high cost of applying such therapy in hospitals.
- Home treatment can avoid or limit parent-child separation. Home treatment should be used with caution, since prevention of neurotoxicity is the goal. Some argue that an infant at risk for neurologic damage should not be at home.
- With effective treatment strategies, the average duration of phototherapy in the regular neonatal nursery at the author's institution is less than 17 hours. Whether the effort and cost to set up home therapy is worthwhile is debatable. This assessment may be different in different socioeconomic and health financing circumstances.
- Infants who have been treated for hemolytic jaundice require follow-up observation for several weeks because hemoglobin levels may fall lower than seen in physiologic anemia. Erythrocyte transfusions may be required if infants develop symptomatic anemia.
Inpatient & Outpatient Medications
- Although drugs that impact bilirubin metabolism have been used in studies, drugs are not ordinarily used in unconjugated neonatal hyperbilirubinemia.
Transfer
- Infants in need of exchange transfusion born at or admitted to facilities not capable of performing this procedure should be transferred to the nearest facility with such capability. In addition to complete records, the infant should be accompanied by a sample of maternal blood because this is needed by the blood bank to match blood.
- However, in determining the best use of time before transfer, as well as the timing of the transfer, the following factors should be considered:
- If the infant is in imminent danger of kernicterus, or is already exhibiting signs of neurological compromise, the most efficient phototherapy possible under the circumstances should be immediately initiated and should be continued until transfer commences. If fiberoptic or any other kind of phototherapy is technically feasible during transport, it should be continued throughout the duration of the transport.
- If the hyperbilirubinemia is due to blood group isoimmunization, an infusion of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) at 500 mg/kg should be immediately started and continued before and during transfer until completed (2 h).
- Even if the receiving hospital determines that an exchange transfusion should be performed, continuing optimal phototherapy until the actual exchange procedure can commence is important. If fiberoptic phototherapy is available, the infant may be left on a fiberoptic mattress while the exchange is carried out. Oral hydration with a breast milk substitute may aid the clearance of bilirubin from the gut, thus inhibiting enterohepatic circulation of bilirubin, and should be given unless clearly contraindicated by the clinical state of the infant. Although none of these suggestions have been tested in randomized controlled trials, case reports, bilirubin photobiology, and expert opinion suggest that they may be beneficial and, at the very least, are unlikely to be harmful.
Deterrence/Prevention
- Prevention of severe neonatal jaundice is best achieved through attention to the risk status of the infant prior to discharge from the birth hospital, through parent education, and through careful planning of postdischarge follow-up.8,11
- A predischarge bilirubin measurement, obtained by transcutaneous or serum measurement and plotted into an hour-specific nomogram, has been shown to be a useful tool in distinguishing infants with a low risk of subsequently developing high bilirubin values.
- Clinical risk factors include gestational age of less than 38 weeks, the use of oxytocin or vacuum during delivery, exclusive breast feeding, an older sibling with neonatal jaundice that required phototherapy, a rise of ³ 6 mg/dL/d (³ 100 μ mol/L/d) in total serum bilirubin levels, and hematomas or extensive bruising. Birth weight is also associated with risk of developing significant jaundice; the higher the birthweight, the higher the risk.
Complications
- Kernicterus
Prognosis
- Prognosis is excellent if the patient receives treatment according to accepted guidelines.
- Brain damage due to kernicterus remains a true risk, and the apparent increased incidence of kernicterus in recent years may be due to the misconception that jaundice in the healthy full-term infant is not dangerous and can be disregarded.
Patient Education
- Parents should be educated about neonatal jaundice and receive written information prior to discharge from the birth hospital. The parent information leaflet should preferably be available in several languages.
Miscellaneous
Medicolegal Pitfalls
- Failure to recognize the potential of significant jaundice to cause brain damage, even in the healthy full-term neonate
- Failure to assess whether a "healthy full-term neonate" is both healthy and was really delivered at term
- Failure of the clinician to personally examine an infant reported by parents or other caregivers to be significantly jaundiced
- Failure to consider risk factors for significant jaundice when an infant is prepared for early discharge from the birth hospital and failure to factor such risk into the plan for follow-up of the baby
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Further Reading
Keywords
neonatal jaundice, icterus neonatorum, neonatal hyperbilirubinemia, physiologic jaundice, nonphysiologic jaundice, neonatal jaundice, unconjugated bilirubin, unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia, kernicterus, physiologic hyperbilirubinemia, Gilbert syndrome, hypertrophic pyloric stenosis, yellow skin, breastfeeding jaundice, breast milk jaundice, G-6-PD deficiency, galactosemia, hypothyroidism, birth trauma, hepatosplenomegaly, petechiae, microcephaly, polycythemia, diagnosis, treatment, yellow-colored baby, yellowed skin
Follow-up: Jaundice, Neonatal