Jaundice, Neonatal

This is a prospective, randomized, open-label controlled trial comparing fenofibrate (10 mg/kg) and phenobarbitone (3 mg/kg) as adjuncts to conventional phototherapy in neonates with unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia. The study aims to compare their effectiveness in reducing total serum bilirubin. Secondary outcomes include duration of phototherapy, length of hospital stay, and treatment-related adverse effects.

Hyperbilirubinemia is a prevalent problem in babies that necessitates medical attention. Probiotic administration as adjuvant therapy may have a positive impact on the pathological neonatal unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia.

A team of researchers at Rice University in partnership with clinicians at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital created BiliSpec, a low-cost battery-powered reader designed to immediately quantify serum bilirubin levels from a small drop of whole blood applied to a lateral flow strip. The simple and affordable BiliSpec system offers a faster and more cost-effective means to detect neonatal jaundice in under-resourced clinics and determine when phototherapy is needed. The goal of this study is to validate the accuracy of the BiliSpec device in measuring bilirubin levels in neonates relative to the laboratory spectrophotometric bilirubinometer and transcutaneous bilirubinometer measurements.