Abstract
A non-invasive device for measuring cutaneous bilirubin has been evaluated on newborn infants to assess the effect of race, serum albumin level, site of measurement, breast feeding, and phototherapy. More than 560 comparisons between the Minolta transcutaneous bilirubinmeter (Pediatrics 65:195) and conventional serum bilirubin determinations (A.O. Bilirubinometer) confirmed Yamanouchi and Lucey's report (Ped. Res. 14:604) of a correlation coefficient near 0.9, P <.001. Phototherapy produced a pronounced decrement in the correlation, apparently by reducing cutaneous bilirubin levels and increasing melanin pigmentation. Both of these effects of phototherapy were circumvented by placing an opaque patch on a skin site between measurements. Formula-fed black (n = 32), Oriental (n = 24), and white (n = 47) babies all had similar slopes (1.0), but the background signal was progressively higher for the darker races and phototherapy augmented this rise in the intercept. Native Americans (n = 24) had a lower slope (0.55) but a higher intercept than the other races. Surprisingly, the correlation coefficient for each of the other three racial groups was higher for bottle-fed (n = 103) than for breast-fed (n = 137) infants. As predicted, the ratio of skin to serum bilirubin level was inversely related to the serum albumin concentration for formula-fed infants (P <0.05) which raises the question of whether skin or serum measurements provide a better index of critical CNS levels.
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Engel, R., Henis, B., Engel, R. et al. 543 EFFECT OF RACE AND OTHER VARIABLES ON TRANSCUTANEOUS BILIRUBINOMETRY. Pediatr Res 15 (Suppl 4), 531 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198104001-00557
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198104001-00557