EFFECT OF HEAD COVERING ON HYPOCALCAEMIA RESULTING FROM PHOTOTHERAPY IN FULL TERM NEONATES WITH HYPERBILIRUBINEMIA

Abstract

Objective: To compare the frequency of hypocalcaemia with or without covering the heads of full term icteric neonates during phototherapy.

Study Design: Randomized controlled trial.

Place and Duration of Study: Neonatal intensive care unit of Paediatric department, Pakistan Navalship Shifa Hospital, Karachi from Jan 2017 to Jun 2017.

Methodology: One hundred and four full term neonates undergoing phototherapy for hyperbilirubinemia were divided in two equal groups. In study group heads were covered with a cap. Levels of serum bilirubin and serum calcium were measured before starting the phototherapy and after 48 hours of phototherapy. Data was collected and analyzed with SPSS 16.0.

Results: Among 104 neonates included in study, 47 (45.2%) neonates were males and 57 (54.8%) were females. Their mean age was 5.02 ± 2.14 days and mean weight was 3.01 ± 0.322 kg. Hypocalcemia occurred in 22 (21.2%) neonates out of 104. In control group 14 neonates developed hypocalcemia and in case group 8 neonates developed hypocalcemia. None of the neonate had symptomatic hypocalcemia. Chi square test resulted in a p-value of 0.23. This value is more than 0.05 so it is not significant.

Conclusion: In our study less no of neonates with covered heads developed hypocalcemia as compared to neonates whose heads were not covered. But these results were statistically not significant. However previously done studies in other countries showed significant results with covered heads. So we suggest that large multicenter study should be conducted in our country to find out exact significance.