Effect of oral zinc sulfate in prevention of jaundice in healthy term newborns

Background: Jaundice is observed during the 1st week of life in approximately 60% of term infants. This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of oral zinc sulfate in prevention of jaundice in healthy term newborns.

Methods: In this clinical trial study, 124 healthy term infants with postnatal age less than 24 hours, that were born in Imam Reza Hospital (AS) in Kermanshah, were enrolled and equally divided into two groups, experimental and control (n=62). The infants in the control group only received the routine neonatal care without any intervention. In the treatment group, the newborns received 5 mg zinc sulfate 1% in a single dose daily for 5 days. In both groups, transcutaneous bilirubin was daily measured by bilimeter. Data were analyzed by statistical methods.

Results: The mean frequency of stools in the treatment and control groups were 2.02±1.20 and 1.08±0.946, respectively in the first day and 3.76±1.38 and 2.81± 0.674 in the fifth day, which indicated a significant difference between the two groups (P<0.001). Transcutaneous bilirubin level in the first and second day after birth revealed no significant difference between the two groups, but it decreased in the treatment group from the third to fifth day indicating a statistically significant difference compared to control group (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Preventive oral administration of 5 mg of zinc sulfate per day to healthy term newborns could reduce the amount of transcutaneous bilirubin.