Ischaemia-modified albumin levels in newborn jaundice before and after phototherapy

The aim of our study was to assess the effect of phototherapy (PT) on ischaemia‐modified albumin (IMA) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in hyperbilirubinemic full‐term newborns. The study was performed on 36 full‐term infants exposed to PT. The babies were aged 3 to 13 days. IMA and MDA levels of the babies were determined before and after PT, by a colorimetric assay. IMA levels before and after PT were found as 0.424 ± 0.290 and 0.531 ± 0.262 absorbance units, respectively. Although IMA levels after PT were slightly higher, the difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.131). MDA levels before and after PT were found as 8.4 ± 1.8 µmol/l and 9.4 ± 1.5 µmol/l, respectively. Serum MDA concentrations were significantly higher after PT than before PT (p < 0.000). In previous studies, conflicting findings have been reported about the effect of PT on oxidant and antioxidant systems. However, we have found no study investigating IMA levels in hyperbilirubinaemia in newborns before and after PT. Our results shows that PT does not affect IMA levels significantly. IMA increases as a result of oxidative stress. We believe that the lack of significant difference between our IMA levels before and after PT may resulted from hyperbilirubinaemia, which has antioxidant effect. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.