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  • Filtered sunlight reduces serum bilirubin levels as effectively as conventional phototherapy in late preterm and term neonates with mild jaundice

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Therapeutics/Prevention
Randomised controlled trial
Filtered sunlight reduces serum bilirubin levels as effectively as conventional phototherapy in late preterm and term neonates with mild jaundice
  1. Praveen Kumar
  1. Neonatal Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India
  1. Correspondence to : Professor Praveen Kumar, Neonatal Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh 160012, Chandigarh, India; drpkumarpgi{at}gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/ebmed-2015-110322

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    Commentary on: Slusher TM, Olusanya BO, Vreman HJ, et al. A randomized trial of phototherapy with filtered sunlight in African neonates. N Engl J Med 2015;373:1115–24.OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed

    Context

    Phototherapy (PT) is the standard treatment for neonatal hyperbilirubinaemia. It prevents the need for exchange transfusion (ET) by lowering total serum bilirubin (TSB). In many resource constrained regions of the world, PT devices are unavailable, or unusable due to irregular power supply or ineffective because of inadequate quantity and quality of PT lamps. This contributes to an avoidable burden of 150 000 deaths and disabilities.1

    Sunlight provides high irradiance and bleaches the jaundiced serum in vitro. However, sunlight is not recommended because of risks of UV and infrared wavelengths and temperature instability. The investigators developed canopies from low cost light-filtering films to block almost all UV-A, UV-B and UV-C light and some …

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors PK reviewed the paper and the literature and wrote this commentary.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.