What are the sequelae of jaundice in children?

Most newborn babies will have varying degrees of jaundice. Physiological jaundice will not harm the baby and does not require special treatment. Pathological jaundice is jaundice that requires intervention and treatment, which may have a certain impact on the baby and even cause serious neurological sequelae. The sequelae of jaundice actually include two aspects:

First, the impact of the primary disease. Because many diseases can manifest in the form of pathological jaundice, such as neonatal hemolytic disease, G-6-pD, neonatal sepsis, hepatitis syndrome, congenital hypothyroidism and other rarer genetic metabolic diseases. For such babies, clear diagnosis and active treatment of the primary disease are the key to reducing adverse clinical outcomes in the later stage.

Second, high indirect serum bilirubin levels. "Too high" indirect bilirubin levels (huge individual differences) may lead to bilirubin brain damage. The warning period of bilirubin brain damage can be manifested as: baby's drowsiness, poor response, weak sucking, low muscle tone, and weakened physiological reflexes, which lasts for about 12-24 hours.

The spasmodic stage is characterized by increased muscle tone, opisthotonos, vomiting, convulsions, respiratory arrest, fever, etc., which lasts for about 12-48 hours. If not treated in time, the mortality rate is high. Babies with bilirubin brain damage will have sequelae such as athetosis, high-frequency hearing impairment, mental retardation, eye movement disorders, enamel hypoplasia and cerebral palsy.