CNS Abnormalities After Neonatal Hemolytic Disease or Hyperbilirubinemia

Abstract

THE etiologic relationship of neonatal bilirubin exposure to classic kernicterus (athetosis, sensori-neural hearing loss, and defective ocular supraversion) is well known, but the relationship to other manifestations of central nervous system (CNS) dysfunction has not been well documented.^1-4 The possible interrelationship of neonatal bilirubin exposure and other neonatal factors, such as maturity, hypoxia, and acidosis on the later occurrence of CNS abnormalities, has not been clearly established.^5-10 At the Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, a study of infants with hemolytic disease of the newborn or neonatal hyperbilirubinemia was undertaken to describe all CNS related abnormalities which were detected during at least the four years thereafter. In addition to bilirubin exposure, those other neonatal factors which may have had an influence on the CNS were also documented. The observations provided an opportunity for analyzing the above relationships and for providing the clinician with data which might be useful in