Neonatal jaundice can be broadly categorised into pyhsilogical or pathological jaundice.
| Physiological jaundice |
pathological jaundice |
| Jaundice begins 24 hours after birth |
Jaundice may start before 24 hours |
| Jaundice would clear in a week |
Jaundice may last even 10 days after birth |
| Jaundice peaks 48-72 hours |
rise rate greater than 5 mg/dL/24 hours |
|
bilirubin levels greater than 12 mg/dL in full-term infants and 10-14 mg/dL/24 hours in preterm infants |
Reason for physiological jaundice
Hepatic immaturity(In intrauterine life placenta and maternal liver excretes bilirubin)
Classification according to the time of onset
| Time of onset |
causes |
| less than 24 hours |
haemolysis,sepsis(septicaemia),TORCH |
| 24 hours to 10 days |
physiological jaundice,
Crigler Najjar syndrome
|
| Onset after 10 days |
biliary atresia,
breast milk jaundice,
galactosaemia,
hypothyroidism,
sepsis(urinary tract infection)
|
How does hypothyrodism causes neonatal jaundice? Hypothyroidism slows down the metaboloism, so it would slow down the conjugation of bilirubin.It would cause unconjugated hyperbilirubinaemia.
How does galactosemia causes neonatl jaundice?
Galactosemia is metaboloic disorder caused by absence of enzyme metabolising Galactose.

This leads to toxic levels of galactose causing
hepatitis,cataract,renal failure and cataracts.
One important long term complication is premature ovarian failure.

My blog
Next page
Join my network: