Evaluation of the relationship between transcutaneous bilirubin measurement and total serum bilirubin in neonatal patients followed for jaundice

OBJECTIVESJaundice is a physiological condition caused by hyperbilirubinemia, which is common in neonatal period. However, severe hyperbilirubinemia can cause kernicterus, which is a serious condition that leads to neurological problems. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether it is safe to use transcutaneous bilirubin (TcB) instead of blood for the evaluation of jaundice by comparing TcB measurement with standard total serum bilirubin (TSB) measurement values. METHODSA total of 105 term and early term infants with gestational ages between 37 and 42 weeks were included in the study. MBJ20 TcB measuring device was used for TcB measurement. TcB was measured from the forehead and sternum. To evaluate the relationship between TcB measurements and TSB measurements, we performed Pearson correlation, Spearman correlation, linear regression analysis, and Bland-Altman analysis in which we evaluated the scatter plot of the differences between the average values of the measurements. RESULTSThere was a positive and statistically significant correlation between TcB forehead and TSB measurements and TcB sternum and TSB measurements (p