Noninvasive methods for bilirubin measurements in newborns: A report

Abstract

New technologies have become available for noninvasive assessments of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. Our objective is to review the noninvasive methods for measuring bilirubin in the newborn. We searched relevant literature from 1966 to January 1, 2020, which included cross-sectional studies to define the accuracy of any noninvasive methods for measuring or estimating total serum/plasma bilirubin (TB) levels in newborns. We identified and included 83 relevant studies of direct visual assessment, icterometry, mobile phone applications, and transcutaneous bilirubinometry (TcB). Compared with laboratory TB measurements, visual assessment was the least accurate and least reliable (r: 0.37 to 074), while TcB was the most accurate, but not always near-equivalent (r: 0.45 to 0.99). The sensitivity and specificity of TcB cut-off values to detect significant hyperbilirubinemia (TB>95th percentile for age in hours) ranged from 74% to 100% and 18% to 89%, respectively.