A Clinical Application of Transcutaneous Bilirubinometer in the Newborn Infants

Abstract

A total of 390 transcutaneous bilirubin measurements were performed in 318 Korean fullterm and 72 preterm infants on forehead. 100 test samplings for reproducibility rendered a mean coefficient of variation less than 5% and the calculated coefficients of variation for technique dependence ranged from 1.98 to 4.78%. We obtained a correlation coefficient of 0.78 and p<O.Ol between transcutaneous bilirubin measurements and total serum bilirubin concentrations. We consider that infants with a total serum bilirubin concentration exceed 12.9mg1lOOml have significant hyperbilirubinemia. We set forehead transcutaneous bilirubin index of 19 as a useful dividing level. The specificity and sensitivity of the test are 98% and 74% respectively. Positive and negative predictive value are 76% and 97% respectively. It can be used as a screening test but further investigation will be necessary.