Therapeutic effect of probiotics in neonatal physiological jaundice

Background : Neonatal jaundice is a relatively prevalent disease. Probiotic supplementation therapy could assist in improving the recovery of neonatal jaundice. Objectives : The aim was to study the effect of probiotics on physiological jaundice. Patients and methods : This study was a double-blinded randomized clinical trial, which was prospectively conducted on 88 neonates admitted to the neonatal ICUs of Menou fi a University Hospital and Damanhour Teaching Hospital from January 2022 to April 2022. Infants were allocated into two groups: the probiotic group included 44 full-term neonates with physiological jaundice who were given the probiotics and the placebo group which included 44 neonates, who were given the placebo. Both groups received standard conventional phototherapy, but the probiotic group received a sachet of probiotic diluted in baby milk once daily until hospital discharge. The outcome variables were serum bilirubin level and the duration of phototherapy. Placebo was administered to the placebo group with 10 ml instilled water added to baby feeding. Results : There was statistically signi fi cant decrease in the duration of admission in the group that received prebiotics than the group that received placebo. There was no statistically signi fi cant difference found between the two groups regarding hemoglobin, platelets and white blood cells count, neutrophils, lymphocytes, C-reactive protein, total serum bilirubin, and direct serum bilirubin at discharge, blood group, and Coombs test. Conclusion : Probiotic supplementation therapy is an effective and safe therapy option for the treatment of physiological neonatal jaundice, without discernible side effects.