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Neonatal jaundice in infants born at 37 weeks: is NICE treating too many?
  1. Mona Noureldein,
  2. Chloe Hill,
  3. Amira Ali,
  4. Shammah Gbenga-Ojo,
  5. Morenike Adewuyi,
  6. Vikki Fradd,
  7. Pinki Surana
  1. Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Mona Noureldein, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham B9 5SS, Birmingham, UK; mona.noureldein{at}nhs.net

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2022-325075

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    Neonatal jaundice affects approximately 60% of term and 80% of preterm infants within the first week of life. Gestation-based treatment threshold graphs by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence are used to guide jaundice management in the UK.1 NICE treatment thresholds at 37-week gestation are much lower compared with ≥38 weeks and also when compared with the previous and recently updated American Academy of Paediatrics guidelines.1–3 This results in an increased treatment burden and hospitalisation of 37-week infants, including mother–baby separation. Infants born at 37 weeks usually are grouped with those born at ≥38 weeks for most neonatal pathologies under the label ‘term infants’. Whether kernicterus develops at a lower serum bilirubin (SBR) level in 37-week infants compared with those ≥38-week …

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors PS and VF conceived the idea of the study. MN and PS designed the study. MN led the coordination of data collection, analysis and writing the first draft of the manuscript. CH, AA, SG-O and MA collected the data. All authors edited the manuscript and critically assessed and approved its final form.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.