The use of vitamin E supplementation has been shown to play a key role in treating neonatal hyperbilirubinemia associated with hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN) and other disorders, according to findings from a study conducted in Egypt and published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Hepatology.
Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is frequently observed among newborns, particularly during the first week of life. In fact, hyperbilirubinemia has been reported to occur in between 8% and 11% of neonates. Hyperbilirubinemia is defined as a total serum bilirubin level that increases above the 95th percentile for age, which is known as the “high-risk zone.”
Idiopathic neonatal jaundice is seen in between 60% and 80% of healthy newborns, with their skin and sclera turning yellowish due to elevated bilirubin levels. Although high serum concentrations of free bilirubin may be associated with neurotoxicity, levels that are mildly elevated can exert beneficial protective antioxidant effects in the cells of membranes. Markedly decreased bilirubin levels, however, may be harmful as well.
Many studies have demonstrated a relationship between elevated bilirubin concentrations and low vitamin E levels in newborns. Recognizing that unconjugated idiopathic hyperbilirubinemia has been associated with the oxidative breakdown of red blood cells in neonates, the researchers sought to explore the relationship between oxidative stress in neonatal hyperbilirubinemia and vitamin E supplementation. The link between oxidative stress in neonates with hyperbilirubinemia who underwent phototherapy and received additional vitamin E supplementation (ie, 25 mg/day over a 3-day period) was compared with that in neonates who did not receive vitamin E supplementation.
Read more about HDFN symptoms and risks
Between February 2020 and October 2022, a total of 100 patients with neonatal indirect hyperbilirubinemia were enrolled in neonatal intensive care units in the pediatric departments at Al Azhar University Hospitals, located throughout Egypt. The 100 neonates were divided into a testing group and a control group.
Results of the study showed that statistically significant differences were reported between the two groups with respect to serum bilirubin levels on the third day of hospital admission. Vitamin E–treated participants exhibited lower serum bilirubin concentrations on the third day of hospitalization compared with the serum bilirubin levels observed in the control participants.
Further, among those in Group VE, serum bilirubin levels were decreased significantly on the third day of hospital admission compared with concentrations reported on zero days of hospital admission.
“Further investigational studies about the role of vitamin E on pathological hyperbilirubinemia are needed,” the authors stated. “Further studies are needed to examine preterm and term neonates separately with larger sample sizes.”
