DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2015.v03i04.039

Pages: 1787-1790

Jaundice is the commonest abnormal physical finding during first week of life. 25-50% of all term newborns and higher percentage of premature infants develop clinical jaundice. The objectives of present study were to know various etiology of neonatal jaundice. The present prospective descriptive study was conducted in GMC, Akola (Maharashtra-India). All neonates admitted in neonatal intensive care unit from period 1st May 2014 to 31st October 2014 were considered for study. Cases which fit in definition of physiological jaundice were not investigated further. Out of 108 jaundiced babies, 60.19% were boys and 39.81 % girls. Out of total, 32.40% were preterm and 67.61% were full term. Physiological jaundice was seen in 44.4% of cases and 55.6% were having pathological cause. Among them sepsis (12%), ABO incompatibility (11.1%), Rh incompatibility (4.6%) were three most common causes observed in present study. The higher the bilirubin level rises, the more justified are additional efforts to determine its cause. Therefore at least newborns presenting with jaundice should be screened for its deficiency of various factors. Screening for G6PD deficiency and other common hemoglobinopathies in neonatal jaundice can be adopted as a non mandatory nationwide screening similar to immunization programme in different regions in India.