Physiologic jaundice in the Nigerian neonate.

In the course of a systemic study of physiologic hyperbilirubinaemia, 200 Nigerian newborn infants were evaluated daily over a 12-day period. The pre-term and post-term neonates exhibited a distinct biphasic pattern of hyperbilirubinaemia. Mean peak bilirubin levels of 8.20 mg/dl for the pre-term, 7.15 mg/dl for the post-term and 8.34 for the term were attained on the fourth, third and fifth days, respectively. Term small for gestational age neonates experienced mean peak bilirubin levels of 7.02 mg/dl at the age of 4 days and maintained a sustained elevation for as long as the last day of the study. Higher values of physiologic hyperbilirubinaemia are observed in this study than has been reported for American neonates.