Abstract:
Background: Neonatal jaundice is the most common clinical problems. Globally, every year
about 1.1 million babies develop it and the vast majority were in sub-Saharan Africa and South
Asia. It occurs frequently in newborn neonates in the first weeks of life. However, there is
scarcity of information on factors associated related to neonatal jaundice.
Objective: To assess the magnitude of Neonatal Jaundice and associated factors among
neonates admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care unit in selected public hospitals at Harar and Dire Dawa, from Jun 15 - July 15, 2021.
Method: A facility based retrospective cross-sectional study design was employed among 653
neonates admitted from January 1/2018- December 31/2020. Data were extracted using a
checklist, which was prepared after reviewing different literatures. The extracted data were
cleaned, coded, and entered into Epi-Data version 4.6 and exported to SPSS version 20 for
analysis. Both bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were fitted to identify
the association between independent variables and the outcome variable. A p- value of < 0.05
and an adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with a CI of 95 % was used to declare level of statistical
significance.
Result: Magnitude of neonatal jaundice was 32 % (95% CI: 28.8, 35.8). Neonatal hypoglycemia
[AOR=2.39, 95% CI: (1.43, 3.99)], neonatal sepsis [AOR =2.43, 95%CI: (1.56, 3.76)], ABO
incompatibility [AOR= 6.26; 95%CI (3.62, 10.86)], Birth trauma [AOR = 2.30; 95% CI (1.22,
4.33)] and breastfeeding [AOR = 1.71; 95% CI (1.11, 2.61)] were factors significantly
associated with neonatal jaundice.
Conclusion and recommendation: The magnitude of neonatal jaundice in the current study
was found to be high. Neonatal hypoglycemia, neonatal sepsis, ABO incompatibility, birth
trauma and breastfeeding were the independent factors associated with neonatal jaundice. The
hospital and health care workers should give attention to neonates admitted to intensive care
units by strengthening the quality of care given at intensive care unit like infection prevention
and strength early detection and treatment of neonatal jaundice mandatory.
