Validity of neonatal jaundice evaluation by primary health-care workers and physicians in Karachi, Pakistan

Objective: The purpose of this study was to validate primary health-care workers' and physicians' visual assessment of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in Karachi, Pakistan.Study Design:We compared primary health-care workers' and physicians' clinical identification of jaundice in infants 60 days old. Result: Primary health-care workers identified 1- to 20-day-old neonates with hyperbilirubinemia 15 mg per 100 ml (260 mol l 1) with 83.3% sensitivity and 50.5% specificity; neonates aged 1 to 6 days were identified with 76.2% sensitivity and 60.7% specificity. Physicians identified neonates aged 1 to 20 days with hyperbilirubimemia 15 mg per 100 ml (260 mol l 1) with 51.4% sensitivity and 90.7% specificity, and neonates aged 1 to 6 days with 50% sensitivity and 88.5 % specificity. The primary health-care workers' and physicians' assessments showed fair interobserver agreement ( statistic 0.29). Conclusion: Primary health-care workers identified hyperbilirubinemic neonates with adequate sensitivity. With proper training and supervision, their assessment could improve the referral of hyperbilirubinemic neonates in low-resource settings in the developing world.