Breast milk jaundice in the newborn. A real entity
Schneider, A.P.
JAMA 255(23): 3270-3274
1986
ISSN/ISBN: 0098-7484 PMID: 3712679 Document Number: 283689
A study to assess the incidence of jaundice in newborn infants examined and collated data gleaned from reports obtained in a search of the English language periodical literature from 1966-1985. A pooled statistical analysis of 12 reported studies indicated a greater incidence of moderate jaundice serum bilirubin level of (12 mg/dL or more) in breast-fed than in formula-fed newborns (13 per cent vs. 4 per cent), with about 4000 newborns in each category. For 6 of these 12 studies, severe jaundice (15 mg/dL or more) incidence was 54/2655 (2 per cent) in breast-fed and only 10/3002 (0.3 per cent) in formula-fed newborn infants. An examination of other studies also revealed a higher association of jaundice in breast-fed than in formula-fed newborn infants.(wz)