Use of Conventional Phototherapy vs Light-Emitting Diode for the Treatment of Unconjugated Hyperbilirubinemia in Neonates: A Randomized Controlled Trial

TL;DR

This study compares LED and conventional phototherapy for treating jaundice in newborns, finding that LED therapy is faster.

Contribution

The study provides new evidence that LED phototherapy reduces treatment duration for neonatal jaundice compared to conventional methods.

Findings

LED phototherapy reduced treatment duration by nearly 9 hours compared to conventional methods.

The study involved 452 neonates and used a randomized controlled design.

Results showed a statistically significant difference in treatment time (p<0.0001).

Abstract

Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is a disease found in newborns, and it can lead to permanent brain damage. Unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia could be treated by using various phototherapy techniques. This study sought to compare the mean duration of treatment required with light-emitting diode (LED) versus conventional phototherapy in newborns with unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia. The investigation included 452 patients, randomly distributed into two groups. LED phototherapies were administered to Group 1, while conventional phototherapy was administered to Group 2. Total serum bilirubin levels, along with unconjugated serum bilirubin levels, were checked at baseline. Once the serum total bilirubin level fell below the cutoff level, phototherapy was stopped. The total duration of phototherapy, in hours, along with other demographic data, was recorded and subsequently analyzed using a Student’s t-test. In Group 1, the mean gestational age was 37.51 ± 1.02 weeks, whereas in Group 2, it was 37.54 ± 1.02 weeks. The mean duration required for treatment with LED (Group 1) versus the conventional method of phototherapy (Group 2) in neonates with unconjugated jaundice was 36.26 ± 3.24 hours vs 45.5 ± 5.13 hours (p<0.0001), respectively. It was concluded that the mean duration required for the treatment of newborns affected by unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia was significantly lower with LED than with conventional phototherapy.

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