How accurate are neonatologists in identifying clinical jaundice in newborns?

This study reevaluates the clinical ability to accurately identify jaundice in neonates. Three hundred seventy-one term infants were clinically asseseed for jaundice, before discharge home on day 2 to 3 of life. Bilirubin levels obtained at the same time were significantly higher in the newborns clinically diagnosed as being jaundiced. Our neonatologists were able to diagnose jaundice at clinically low levels, and not to misdiagnose significant hyperbilirubinemia in the majority of the infants. The trained human eye can still discriminate between the jaundiced and nonjaundiced newborn, and clinical impression of jaundice remains a reliable primary screening tool for significant neonatal hyperbilirubinemia.