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Status unknownNCT03933423Updated Mar 31, 2022

Home Based Phototherapy for Neonatal Jaundice

An interventional study of Home based phototherapy and referral in Neonatal Jaundice, sponsored by International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. Status unknown at 1 site in Bangladesh. Open to female participants aged 18 Years to 45 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-03-31.

Sponsored by International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Mar 2022), so the status shown — last known as Recruiting — may be out of date.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
500
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 45 Years
Sex
Female
01

Study summary

The main purpose of the study is to deliver community health worker based prevention, early screening and management of neonatal Jaundice using battery powered LED phototherapy device at the household level.

Read the detailed description

Bangladesh like other low and middle-income countries has a high burden of hyperbilirubinemia induced neonatal morbidity and mortality. Approximately 60%-80% of newborns develop neonatal jaundice and 18% of infants are at risk for adverse outcomes from neonatal jaundice. Severe neonatal jaundice can put neonates at risk for long term neuro-developmental impairments and death. Delay in diagnosis and treatment of severe neonatal jaundice can result in brain damage to the newborn that is preventable with timely treatment.

Approximately 14 million infants per year in low to middle-income countries (LMIC) are at risk from neonatal jaundice progressing to extreme hyperbilirubinemia and brain damage. Nearly 80% of the 481,000 cases of extreme hyperbilirubinemia are in LMIC because infants are identified too late or health facility treatment is inaccessible or inadequate.

New, low-cost, easy to use screening and phototherapy treatment technologies enable our proposed redesign of care delivery in LMIC to save infant's brains. The investigators plan to shift care from specialists and hospitals to community health workers (CHW) and homes. Investigators will integrate CHW-led prevention during pregnancy, with timely household screening and treatment. Investigators will reach infants before brain damage occurs and treat infants who would not otherwise be treated.

LMIC including Bangladesh have had difficulty addressing neonatal jaundice because of the expense and logistics of providing timely prevention, screening and treatment to families. This study aim to test 3 hypothesis:

H1: Prenatal modules for pregnant mothers will increase breastfeeding rates at 1 hour of life and at 3 months of age.

H2: CHWs can screen 80% of newborns by 48 hours of age for jaundice and are skilled in identifying sick infants.

H3: CHW-led household screening for neonatal jaundice will increase the rate of indicated treatment for neonatal jaundice compared to current practice.

Investigators will conduct formative research to engage Government and other stakeholders to develop intervention package for prevention and treatment of neonatal jaundice and configuring and adapting LED phototherapy device to use for home treatment. Investigators will then conduct randomized control trial to implement the intervention package in intervention community and will assess the effectiveness of the intervention package. Investigators will compare the rates of indicated treatment for neonatal jaundice in the intervention and treatment arms.

02

Conditions studied

  • Neonatal Jaundice
03

In context

Jaundice, Neonatal

105 studies on the registry are indexed under Jaundice, Neonatal; 27 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 500 is above the median of 134 across 74 interventional studies indexed under Jaundice, Neonatal.

Browse Jaundice, Neonatal studies →

Lead sponsor

International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh is the lead sponsor of 197 studies on the registry; 28 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 45 Years
Sexes eligible
Female
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  • The mothers are at late 2nd or early 3rd trimester of their pregnancy and agreed to enroll as study participants
  • They are planning to stay in the study village for the next 12 months (if a mother is planning to give birth at her natal home and then return, she will still not be a candidate for enrollment)

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Pregnant mother with confirmed multiple pregnancy.
  • Pregnant mother with medically identified psychological disorder.
  • Any known maternal danger sign.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
500 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Intervention

    Educational session of pregnant mothers, blood grouping of parents and identifying risk factors for developing jaundice, screening newborns for neonatal jaundice, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency and illness, Home based phototherapy and referral.

    Device: Home based phototherapy and referral

  • No intervention
    Control

    No intervention will be deliver

Interventions

  • DeviceHome based phototherapy and referral

    CHWs will visit the household twice in a month and will counsel mother and families on use of preventive care such as routine antenatal check care and newborn care. The investigators will conduct blood grouping and rhesus (Rh) typing. If the mother is Rh negative, investigators will also measure the Rh status of the father prior to delivery to determine the risk of Rh disease in the newborn. The investigators will establish an emergency contact system both in intervention and comparison arm where mothers and family members contact and inform the research team about delivery. The trained phlebotomist will collect cord blood for measuring glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase and infant blood type, Rh status, direct antigen testing. The investigators will develop a protocol for treating infants at home based on the ETAT (Emergency Triage Assessment AND Treatment) AAP (American Academy of Paediatrics) guidelines and treat with LED based phototherapy

    Also known as: Educational session, identifying risk factors and, screening

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Breastfeeding rates within 1 hour of age

    Mother reported breastfeeding rates within 1 hour of age will be measured following structured survey

    Time frame: 6-8 months after the intervention

  2. Breastfeeding rates upto 3 months of age

    Mother reported breastfeeding rates after 3 months of age will be measured following structured survey

    Time frame: 6-8 months after the intervention

  3. Number of newborns having at least one postnatal check-up within 48 hours.

    This measurement will be taken within 2 months of child birth through a structured survey, reported by mother.

    Time frame: 6-8 months after the intervention

  4. Number of newborns screened for neonatal jaundice

    Number of newborns screened for neonatal jaundice either in home or any government or non-government health facilities within 7 days of birth through a structured survey reported by mother.

    Time frame: 6-8 months after the intervention

  5. Number of newborns that received indicated treatment for neonatal jaundice

    Number of children receiving indicated treatment for neonatal jaundice either in home or health facilities will be measured by a mother reported structured survey after 2 months of child birth

    Time frame: 6-8 months after the intervention

  6. Community health workers (CHW's) skill in assessing sick newborns

    CHW's skill will be measured through a structured observation following a check list and subjective and objective assessment by registered physician

    Time frame: During 6-8 months of the intervention

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Mirzapur
    Tangail, Dhaka, Bangladesh
    Recruiting
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Jahan F, Foote E, Rahman M, Shoab AK, Parvez SM, Nasim MI, Hasan R, El Arifeen S, Billah SM, Sarker S, Hoque MM, Shahidullah M, Islam MS, Ashrafee S, Darmstadt GL. Evaluation of community health worker's performance at home-based newborn assessment supported by mHealth in rural Bangladesh. BMC Pediatr. 2022 Apr 22;22(1):218. doi: 10.1186/s12887-022-03282-6. PubMed 35459113 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 31, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03933423
Lead sponsor
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh
Collaborators
Stanford University, Dhaka Shishu Hospital
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
May 1, 2019
Start date
May 1, 2019
Primary completion
Dec 2022 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 2022 (estimated)
Last update
Mar 31, 2022

Study contacts

Md Mahbubur Rahman, MBBS
Contact
mahbubr@icddrb.org
8802-9827001 ext. 4003

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is status unknown, as verified in Mar 2022. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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