Home Phototherapy: Not Seeing the Light

Abstract

In this issue of Pediatrics, Meropol and her associates¹ report an interesting survey of the opinions and practices of urban pediatricians regarding home phototherapy. They report that fewer than a third of pediatricians in their survey used home phototherapy in their practices. A variety of reasons for nonuse were elicited, mostly related to difficulties in getting phototherapy done at home. A minority of nonusers were concerned about potential complications, such as dehydration. On the other hand, many of the reasons given by nonusers were not experienced as actual problems by the pediatricians who reported using home phototherapy. In their conclusions, the authors suggest that until more is known, the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for home phototherapy should be followed and that we should strive to improve the benefit-risk ratio for the treatment of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia.