physiological jaundice


neonatal jaundice

Yellowing of a newborn’s skin during the neonatal period, which is caused by an increased bilirubin level in the blood, due to immaturity of liver function plus destruction of red cells. Neonatal jaundice appears between days 2 and 5 and clears by 2 weeks, and is more common in premature infants.
 
DiffDx
Nonphysiologic, prolonged, or pathologic jaundice in newborn, biliary atresia, ABO and/or Rh incompatibility, galactosaemia, cephalhaematoma, polycythemia, G6PD deficiency, neonatal sepsis, congenital infection (CMV), toxoplasmosis, syphilis, herpes, rubella, late-pregnancy use of sulfa drugs by mother, Crigler-Najjar syndrome, hereditary spherocytosis, cystic fibrosis, breast-milk jaundice, pyruvate kinase deficiency, thalassaemia, Gilbert’s syndrome, congenital hypothyroidism, Lucey-Driscoll syndrome, Gaucher’s disease, Niemann-Pick disease.