Laboratory evaluation of jaundice in newborns: corrections.

Abstract

Sir. —We wish to correct errors that we have discovered in our article that appeared in the March 1990 issue of AJDC . 1 We used a computerized database of babies born at the University of California, San Francisco, Medical Center from 1980 to 1982 to determine the frequency and yield of bilirubin levels of at least 86 μmol/L (5 mg/dL) at less than 24 hours of age, 171 μmol/L (10 mg/dL) at less than 48 hours of age, and 223 μmol/L (13 mg/dL) thereafter. Unfortunately, we have determined that the time of birth in the database for those 2 years was not accurate, hence our estimate of the age at which bilirubin values were measured was sometimes incorrect. This led to considerable overestimation of the frequency of jaundice during the first 2 days of life and slight underestimation of the frequency of jaundice thereafter. The overall frequency of hyperbilirubinemia as