Patient's question:
The son of my best friend's family was about a week old. Yesterday, I had some free time to visit her and the baby at the hospital. During our conversation, she mentioned that the baby's jaundice level was high, and she wanted to ask here why newborns' jaundice levels might be high?Doctor's answer:
Due to the mother's fetal hypoxia, the number of red blood cells in the fetus increases. After birth, the oxygen partial pressure in the body rises, red blood cells are destroyed, and thus more bilirubin is produced. Additionally, the metabolism of bilirubin requires liver enzymes. Newborns have immature liver function, leading to insufficient secretion of liver enzymes, which in turn produces bile. If red blood cells are not eliminated in a timely manner, it leads to jaundice. Newborn jaundice includes two types: 1. Physiological jaundice: relatively high bilirubin production, insufficient uptake of bilirubin by liver cells, and defects in bilirubin excretion. This is not related to anything and can return to normal on its own.