Direct hyperbilirubinemia complicating ABO hemolytic disease of the newborn.

A retrospective study of the diagnostic implications of conjugated hyperbilirubinemia complicating ABO hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN) was done by studying the records of 264 infants with ABO-HDN. Direct hyperbilirubinemia was found to complicate ABO-HDN in 3 per cent of the infants, all being full term. Eighty-seven per cent were female and familial occurrence was noted in half of the cases. Most of the infants presented with anemia on the first day of life. Our data suggest that this is a benign complication of ABO-HDN which clears within a month.