1 Departments of Surgery and Pediatrics, University of Alberta Hospital, Alberta, Canada
The icterometer does not appear to be very reliable as a means of estimating concentrations of bilirubin in serum, or as a screening device to decide when bilirubin determinations should be done by the laboratory. At present, except for those infants known to have blood group incompatibilities, we continue to measure bilirubin concentrations on all newborn infants who appear jaundiced within 24 hours of birth, or who subsequently become severely jaundiced, rather than to depend upon the icterometer.