# Phototherapy for newborn jaundice

Intervention · id `maternal:phototherapy` · Maternal & Newborn Atlas · release `c7fb95f1d15a7d13` (public)

> General information from published sources, not medical advice, and not reviewed by clinicians. Check the cited source before relying on anything here.

The atlas's own text and curation may be reused under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/): credit the atlas, and do not use it commercially. See the atlas About page. Text quoted from a source stays under that source's own terms, given as the source's reuse\_basis. The atlas's reuse terms do not cover it. The downloads list each quotation with its source in third\_party\_quotations.

Also called: Light treatment for jaundice

Browse, life stage: Newborn  
Browse, care area: Newborn care  

## In plain language

A treatment for high bilirubin in newborn jaundice. A 2021 review describes phototherapy as the treatment of first choice for jaundice in newborns, and also says some studies link it to harms. When to start it is set by guidelines that this atlas lists as references only.

## Technical summary

Evidence recorded here is one narrative review (Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine, 2021; cite only, CC BY-NC-ND). It gives no effect size, threshold or schedule. The phototherapy thresholds of the 2022 US paediatrics guideline are not recorded, because that publisher’s content is identity-only in this atlas.

## Claims, with the population each applies to

## Context: Neonates with jaundice (narrative review of phototherapy)

Recipient: Newborn; Population: Neonates with jaundice and high serum bilirubin, as discussed in a narrative review. The abstract sets no gestational age or setting.; Care setting: Not stated in the source.; Geography: Not stated in the source.; Life stage: Neonatal period; Gestational age: Not reported; Postnatal age: Not reported; Follow-up: Not applicable: a review.

### A 2021 narrative review describes phototherapy as the treatment of first choice for jaundice in newborns, and says it lowers a high level of unbound bilirubin and limits that bilirubin's toxic effect on nerves. The review also says some studies link phototherapy to harms in the short and long term, ranging from red blood cell breakdown to allergic disease, and it calls for an agreed, standard way of giving it.

- Category: Effect
- Evidence stage: Evidence synthesis
- Certainty: Certainty not assessed
- Applies to: Recipient: Newborn; Population: Neonates with jaundice and high serum bilirubin, as discussed in a narrative review. The abstract sets no gestational age or setting.; Care setting: Not stated in the source.; Geography: Not stated in the source.; Life stage: Neonatal period; Gestational age: Not reported; Postnatal age: Not reported; Follow-up: Not applicable: a review.
- Limitations: A narrative review, not a trial, so it gives no effect size, threshold or schedule. It sets no population or setting. The source licence is CC BY-NC-ND and this atlas treats the source as cite only, so the statement is in the atlas's own words. Only the abstract was read. When to start phototherapy is set by guidelines that this atlas lists as references only.
- Last checked: Not recorded
- Sources:
  1. Supports: Challenges of phototherapy for neonatal hyperbilirubinemia (Review) (Publication, edition PMC Open Access subset full-text XML from NCBI E-utilities (PMC7859475), a narrative review in Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine (2021).) <https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7859475/>
     Locator: Abstract, sentences 1 and 2. Retrieved 2026-10-14T18:26:21Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 7b5449c750bd54f93d572c6174f9fd456374b98513c9880f1e66961a76666a4f.
     How it applies: The role of phototherapy and the adverse reactions suggested by some studies.
  2. Background: Challenges of phototherapy for neonatal hyperbilirubinemia (Review) (Publication, edition PMC Open Access subset full-text XML from NCBI E-utilities (PMC7859475), a narrative review in Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine (2021).) <https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7859475/>
     Locator: Abstract, sentence 4. Retrieved 2026-10-14T18:26:21Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 7b5449c750bd54f93d572c6174f9fd456374b98513c9880f1e66961a76666a4f.
     How it applies: The review's aim.
  3. Background: Challenges of phototherapy for neonatal hyperbilirubinemia (Review) (Publication, edition PMC Open Access subset full-text XML from NCBI E-utilities (PMC7859475), a narrative review in Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine (2021).) <https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7859475/>
     Locator: article-meta, pub-date (epub), year. Retrieved 2026-10-14T18:26:21Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 7b5449c750bd54f93d572c6174f9fd456374b98513c9880f1e66961a76666a4f.
     How it applies: Year of the review.

## Connected pages

- Review: treatment of first choice for newborn jaundice: Newborn jaundice (hyperbilirubinaemia) (`maternal:neonatal-jaundice`) [a claim, not a settled fact; see claim `maternal:claim-phototherapy-first-option` and its context]
- Filed under this front: Newborn support: warmth, breathing, feeding (`maternal:front-newborn-support`)

## Provenance

Content hash: d7b88f850ccb6f0fad6b329aba3c0affcac99e5a34f25e846128b7cacbd9ea09
Last substantive edit: 2026-10-14
Evidence last checked: Not recorded