|
The correlation between higher peak serum bilirubin and hypocalcemia had been
studied in our work but was not included in the published article. No
significant difference was observed between hypocalcemic babies having high and
low peak serum bilirubin levels both in term and preterm groups separately
(Table 1). The effect of long duration of phototherapy on the incidence of
hypocalcemia was not studied. However, as hypocalcemia has been so commonly
noted even after 48 hours of phototherapy, the effect appears to be early.
TABLE 1
High and Low Bilirubin Peak and Hypocalcemia
|
Bilirubin |
Hypocalcemic Babies |
|
|
Term
(n = 20)
|
Preterm (n =
20)
|
|
|
No.
|
% |
No. |
% |
|
High |
4 |
30.8 |
5 |
60.2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(n = 13) |
|
(n = 8)
|
|
|
Low
|
1 |
14.3 |
6 |
50.0 |
|
|
(n
= 7)
|
|
(n =12) |
|
SE of Proportion
Significance |
0.2029 |
|
|
0.2551 |
|
|
Not significant
|
|
Not significant
|
The postulated 'mechanism for phototherapy induced hypocalcemia is reported to
be due to inhibition of pineal secretion of melatonin resulting in direct
hypocalcemic effect of cortisol. The effect of phototherapy on phosphorus, ALP,
PTH and Vito D is not well documented.
B.K. Jain,
Harmesh Singh,
Daljit Singh,
Narinderjit Singh,
|
