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

Abstract

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.