Efficacy and safety of phototherapy for jaundice in full-term newborns: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE

The efficacy and safety of phototherapy in the treatment of full-term neonatal jaundice were meta-analyzed, and the advantages of phototherapy were summarized.

METHODS

PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases were searched using subject + free words for the subject words "phototherapy," "jaundice," and "full-term newborn," and the search time was limited from 1 January 2000 to 25 April 2024, and the search language was unlimited. According to the inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria, two researchers independently conducted a three-level screening of the retrieved literature to obtain the included literature. Collected and compared information included in the literature. Review Manager 5.3 was used to plot bias plots, forest plots, and funnel plots. Statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 26 and Stata 17 software.

RESULTS

We obtained a total of 486 literature entries, of which 17 were included in the systematic review. The meta-analysis included 647 full-term neonates from 14 studies with complete serum total bilirubin (STB) data before and after phototherapy. The pooled mean reduction in STB was 5.43 mg/dL (95% CI: 5.30-5.56). χ 2 = 728.01, df = 13 (p < 0.00001), I 2 = 98%, and Z = 80.54 (p < 0.00001) for STB (mg/dL) before and after phototherapy. The STB reduction rate in all studies was >18%.

CONCLUSION

Proper phototherapy can significantly reduce the level of STB and eliminate the symptoms of jaundice in full-term neonates. Light-emitting diode phototherapy devices demonstrated higher efficacy compared with fluorescent tube systems. The treatment is safe with minimal adverse effects.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO.