Effect of phototherapy on serum level of calcium in infants with hyperbilirubinemia interventional single arm study

Background Hypocalcemia may lead to significant symptoms such as convulsions, irritability, apnea, jitteriness and laryngospasm. As a result, phototherapy induced hypocalcemia can be a serious issue in neonates. Aim The study's aim was to determine phototherapy effect on serum calcium levels in neonates having unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia after being exposed to phototherapy for 48 h. Patients and methods This study is an interventional single-arm study conducted on 40 full-term newborns with jaundice (24 of them are males and 16 are females) who received phototherapy for neonatal indirect hyperbilirubinemia (exaggerated physiological jaundice) in neonatal ICU of Children's Hospital at Assiut University in the period between February 2020 to February 2022. Results The total serum Ca levels significantly decreased over admission period from 9.72 ± 0.58 to 9.41 ± 0.47 mg/dl. Similarly, ionized Serum Ca levels significantly decreased over admission period from 1.19 ± 0.11 to 1.07 ± 0.12 mg/dl. Conclusion This study concluded that phototherapy decrease serum calcium levels in neonatal jaundice after 48 h of exposure to phototherapy.