A study of zinc in full term neonates with hyperbilirubinemia and under phototherapy

Abstract EN

Background : neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is a common problem occurring in nearly (5-25)% neonates.

in the past few years sixty to eighty percent of newborn presented with jaundice in the first week of life.

one third of them need admission for treatment of hyperbilirubinemia.

aim : this study aimed to determine relation between zinc serum level and phototherapy in term neonates with hyperbilirubinemia.

patients & methods : this study included 120 full term neonates during the first week of life with good general condition who were visit Almaza neonatal hospital with high level of indirect hyperbilirubinemia indicating admission.

they were hospitalized and were underwent phototherapy based on guidelines of (AAP 2004) for the treatment of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia during the period from April 2018 till October 2018.

they were divided equally into two groups with 60 jaundiced newborn according to serum zinc level.

patients in the first group were with normal zinc level while the others in the second group suffer from low zinc level.

results : before and after phototherapy serum zinc were significantly lower in low zinc group.

so, zinc was not significantly decreased in normal zinc group after phototherapy no significant difference between the studied groups regarding zinc reduction.

conclusion : phototherapy has an impact on serum zinc level.

this study indicated that zinc may have a close relation with the neonatal jaundice.