Background & Objectives: The incidence of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia disease is noticeable. Studying neonatal hyperbilirubinemia and its related factors is a step to reduce its incidence and remarkable treatment expenses. On the other hand, due to lack of on time recognition and suitable treatments, this disease can cause irreversible neuro-cerebral complications. This study was conducted to examine the etiology of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia and its associated signs, in order to provide on time and suitable treatment measures.

 Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in 2003 on neonates affected by neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in Ardabil Sabalan hospital. The data obtained from their conditions, clinical examination, and measurment of total and direct bilirubine was used to fill out a questionnaire. The data were analyzed by SPSS software (release 10).

 Results: From among 132 neonates affected by neonatal hyperbilirubinemia, 50% were male and others were female. 85.6% of these subjects were fullterm births and the rest were premature. 56% of these neonates were born by C/S. 6.8% of hyperbilirubinemia cases, which were considered as “pathologic”, occurred during 24 hours after birth. 72% were related to the second to seventh days of birth, 17.2% to second week of birth, and the rest (4%) had prolonged Icter. 65% of these neonates were the first children of the family. The average time of hospitalization was 4.8 days. 34.8% of these neonates had pathologic signs beside hyperbilirubinemia and had a clinically serious condition. About 23% of these neonates were born by C/S and only 11.8% of them were vaginal births. 46 cases (34.8%) had accompaynig pathologic problems in addition to Icter, among whom 33 children (25%) had evident infection. The causes of hyperbilirubinemia were Crigler-Najjar syndrome in one case, ABO in 11 cases (8.33%) and RH discord in 4 cases (2.8%). Generally speaking the precise cause of 36.89% of Hyperbilirubinemia was determined.

 Conclusion: Some factors such as children by C/S, neonatal infection, prematurity, ABO discords and RH discords play an important role in hyperbilirubinemia incidence and severity.

 Background and Objectives: Jaundice is a common disorder in preterm and term newborns and G₆PD deficiency is one of its etiologic agents. With respect to high incidence of G₆PD deficiency in Iran, this study was conducted to determine the clinical correlation of this deficiency with time of jaundice onset and mean level of serum bilirubin. Management and complication rates are also evaluated in these neonates in comparison with those without this deficiency.

 Methods: This is a case-control study performed through G6PD assay in icteric newborns admitted to neonatal intensive care unit in 22 Bahman hospital in Mashhad within 3 years. This case group was compared with the control group who were randomly selected from among icteric neonates without G₆PD deficiency. The data were collected by a questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS.

  Results: This study was done on 505 icteric neonates. The case group consisted of 34 newborns (6.7%) with G₆PD deficiency. M/F ratio in case group was higher than control group (P= 0.01). Mean level of total serum bilirubin was significantly higher in case group (P=0.047). There were no significant differences in duration of phototherapy and hospitalization between two groups, but exchange transfusion rate in case group was twice as much. Complications such as seizure and kernicterus in both groups were the same.

 Conclusion: Due to high incidence of G₆PD deficiency in our study (6.7%) and significant incidence in female patients, determination of enzyme level is recommended in all newborns with jaundice regardless of their gender. Because of higher level of serum bilirubin in G₆PD deficient patients, phototherapy must be done as soon as possible to avoid invasive procedures such as exchange transfusion.