ABSTRACT

Bilirubin determination is one of the most common analytical procedure done in a tertiary
hospital-based laboratory. It is used in assessing hepatic function (e.g. detoxification) and most
especially in the determination of serum bilirubin in cases of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. But
due to its photolytic property, it is deemed difficult to measure. The photolytic effect of white
light to the decrease of bilirubin concentration has been established and to expound the findings,
the researchers aimed to determine the effect of different colours of light to the decrease bilirubin
concentration in high bilirubin containing pooled serum. Using experimental- single group
design, serum of patients, coming from Divine Word Hospital (DWH) and Eastern Visayas
Regional Medical Center, who have high serum bilirubin concentration (>100 umol/L) were
pooled and stored at -20 to -22 C until the desired volume (6.0 mL) was attained. The pooled
serum is then thawed for further processing; samples were subjected for exposure to different
colours of LED light (red, yellow, blue, green and white) with different time intervals (30
minutes, 1 hour and 2 hours). Processed samples are then assayed using the Jendrassik-Grof
bilirubin method in Dimension RxL Max Automated Analyzer at DWH Laboratory. In the case
of % change of Total Bilirubin: after 30 minutes exposure, blue light had the highest value with
a change of -6.66% while the lowest were from red light with a change of -0.21% and
interestingly, samples exposed to yellow light increased its level by 0.11%; after an hour, blue
light had the highest value with a change -12.22% while yellow light had the lowest change of
-0.40% decrease; and after 2 hours, blue light has the highest change of -28.50% while the red
light has the lowest change with a decrease of 3.14%. Two-way Analysis of Variance was used to
determine the significant difference in mean of the serum concentration exposed to red light,
yellow light, blue light, green light and white light with time intervals of 30 minutes, 1 hour, and
2 hours. All showed a significant difference in the mean of the serum exposed to different
colours of light into different time intervals.