Point-of-Care Capillary Compared to Venous Bilirubin Measurement in Neonates

We aimed to evaluate the agreement between the point-of-care (POC) capillary bilirubin measurement with POC venous samples and the reference laboratory measurement. We conducted a prospective comparative study, including neonates  ≥ 34 weeks of gestational age, and ≥ 72 h of age. The agreement between POC (Calmark Neo-Bilirubin, Sommargatan, Karlstad, Sweden) capillary, POC venous, and laboratory venous bilirubin was examined with the Bland-Altman plot and the Passing-Bablok regression analyses. The mean bilirubin was 13.54 (2.79) mg/dL in the POC capillary samples, 13.45 (2.69) mg/dL in the POC venous samples, and 12.68 (2.33) mg/dL in reference samples. Bland-Altman plots showed optimal agreement between the POC capillary and venous methods, and with the reference venous method. The bias between the POC capillary and venous methods was 0.094 [levels of agreement (- 3.118)- 3.306], between the POC capillary and the reference venous methods 0.865 [levels of agreement (- 2.283)- 4.014], and between the POC venous and the reference venous methods 0.771 [levels of agreement (- 1.814)- 3.357]. The POC capillary and venous bilirubin levels were in optimal agreement with each other, and with the reference venous measurements, supporting the POC Calmark Neo-Bilirubin capillary measurement as an alternative for a less-invasive, more rapid evaluation of bilirubin.