Higher ETCOc predicts longer phototherapy treatment in neonatal hyperbilirubinemia.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the predictive performance of end-tidal carbon monoxide corrected to ambient carbon monoxide (ETCOc) values phototherapy in neonates with significant hyperbilirubinemia.
Methods: A prospective study was conducted on neonates with significant hyperbilirubinemia who received phototherapy between 3 and 7 days of life. The breath ETCOc and serum total bilirubin of the recruited infants were measured on admission.
Results: The mean ETCOc at admission in 103 neonates with significant hyperbilirubinemia was 1.70 ppm. The neonates were categorized into two groups: phototherapy duration ≤72 h ( n  = 87) and >72 h ( n  = 16) groups. Infants who received phototherapy for >72 h had significantly higher ETCOc (2.45 vs. 1.60, P  = 0.001). The cutoff value of ETCOc on admission for predicting longer phototherapy duration was 2.4 ppm, with a sensitivity of 62.5% and specificity of 88.5%, yielding a 50% positive predictive value and a 92.7% negative predictive value.
Conclusion: ETCOc on admission can help predict the duration of phototherapy in neonates with hyperbilirubinemia, facilitate clinicians to judge disease severity, and make clinical communication easier and more efficient.
Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
(© 2023 Zhan, Peng, Jin, Su, Tan, Zhao and Zhang.)