Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in a Turkish cohort: association of vitamin B12

Deficiency of vitamin B12 (VitB12) causes failure of erytrocyte maturation leading to cell lysis. Red blood cell lysis causes excess heme production that ends with hyperbilirubinemia. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the role of VitB12 in neonatal hyperbilirubinemia (NNH) with prolonged jaundice and to compare patients with control group who did not develop hyperbilirubinemia.

A total of 20 patients (M/F = 13/7) with jaundice and 20 healthy controls (M/F = 11/9) were included in the study.

The mean indirect bilirubin level of patient group was 9.91 ± 1.90 mg/dL (6.71 - 15.2 mg/dL) and control group was 3.18 ± 1.24 mg/dL (1.16 - 4.96 mg/dL). The mean VitB12 level of patient group was 119.9 ± 43.9 ng/L (42.35 - 178 ng/L) and the control group was 286.17 ± 97.43 ng/L (207.90 - 624.10 ng/L). There was a statistically significant difference in terms of VitB12 level (< 0.001) between the study groups.

To our knowledge, this study is the first study showing that low VitB12 level has been observed as a risk factor in NNH for the first time in the literature. We suggest that prophylactic use of VitB12 by pregnant women so will greatly benefit to prevent VitB12 deficiency and its complications in the first years of life such as NNH.