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Sequential direct bilirubin values in preterm infants

Journal of Perinatology volume 45, pages 961–964 (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

We aim to describe sequential direct bilirubin levels in preterm infants and examine the outcomes of subsequent evaluation of direct hyperbilirubinemia.

Study design

Retrospective electronic chart analysis of preterm infants admitted and surviving the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stay was performed.

Result

A total of 127 preterm infants had 665 bilirubin measurements (333 direct bilirubin; 332 total bilirubin) during their first NICU stay. Before five days of age, twenty-seven (27/127, 21%) infants had abnormal direct bilirubin estimations. At fourteen days, three of these infants (3/27, 11%) had abnormal values. All three infants had further testing and more direct bilirubin estimations than their cohort. All infants had normal levels by discharge. Age-appropriate direct bilirubin values were based on those described by Feldman et al.

Conclusion

All preterm infants with elevated direct bilirubin had normal values by discharge.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to the ethics committee i.e. Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri (number 2097726) stipulations but may be available from the corresponding author on reasonable request if approved by the IRB.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, MO, USA

    Abigail McCay, Odinaka Onuigbo, MaCee Boyle, Sahla Esam, Shreya Gaddipati, Charles B. Chen, Sanu Yadav & Akshaya Vachharajani

Authors
  1. Abigail McCay
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  2. Odinaka Onuigbo
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  3. MaCee Boyle
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  4. Sahla Esam
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  5. Shreya Gaddipati
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  6. Charles B. Chen
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  7. Sanu Yadav
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  8. Akshaya Vachharajani
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Contributions

AM assisted in data collection, data analysis, and manuscript writing. OO drafted the Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol and assisted with data collection. MB, SE, and SG assisted with data collection. CBC and SY assisted in study design and manuscript editing. AV conceived and designed the study and led data collection, data analysis, and manuscript writing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abigail McCay.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

(a) The authors confirm that all methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations. (b) Approval has been obtained from the ethics committee (IRB) at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri (number 2097726). (c) No informed consent was required under the ethics committee (IRB) approval as it is a retrospective study.

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McCay, A., Onuigbo, O., Boyle, M. et al. Sequential direct bilirubin values in preterm infants. J Perinatol 45, 961–964 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-025-02264-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-025-02264-7

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