Ictère néonatale et encéphalopathie bilirubinique : Approche diagnostique

Abstract

This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted over two months in 2026 in the neonatology department of the Lala Kheira University Hospital in Mostaganem, Algeria. It involved 60 newborns hospitalized for neonatal jaundice and treated with conventional or intensive phototherapy. The main objective was to study the influence of the type of phototherapy, the sex of the newborn, and the type of jaundice on several biological and clinical parameters, namely ABO/Rh blood typing, CRP, direct Coombs test, birth weight, and total, direct, and indirect bilirubin levels. Blood samples were collected according to a standardized protocol and in compliance with aseptic techniques The samples were then analyzed using several methods: colorimetric assay of bilirubin by diazo reaction, immunoturbidimetric method for CRP, hemagglutination techniques for ABO/Rh blood typing, and direct Coombs test for the detection of antibodies bound to red blood cells. The collected data were processed by statistical analysis using STAT BOX 6.4 software, by one-way ANOVA, and by comparison of means using the Newman-Keuls test, with p < 0.05 being the significance threshold. No statistically significant difference was found between intensive and conventional phototherapy in terms of bilirubin levels, CRP, and newborn weight. In both groups, a paradoxical trend of increasing bilirubin was observed at 24 hours, indicating insufficient follow-up to truly assess therapeutic efficacy. Most Coombs tests were negative, demonstrating the limited involvement of immuno-hemolytic mechanisms in the observed neonatal jaundice. Furthermore, sex and type of jaundice did not have a significant impact on the biological parameters studied, although some descriptive differences existed between the groups. Thus, the results showed the stability of biological parameters despite the factors studied, but also the limitations related to the small number of participants and the short follow-up period.