Page 710 - 16Neonatal Jaundice_compressed

Neonatal jaundice

Multiple phototherapy Phototherapy that is given using more than one light source
simultaneously; for example two or more conventional units, or a
combination of conventional and fibreoptic units.
Near-term 35 to 36 weeks gestational age (see key terms 1.1)
Necrotising enterocolitis A gastrointestinal condition that mostly affects preterm babies. It
involves infection and inflammation which causes destruction of all
or part of the bowel (intestine)
Neonatal Related to the first 28 days of life
Neurotoxicity Neurotoxicity occurs when the exposure to natural or artificial toxic
substances, called neurotoxins, damages nerve tissue and alters its
normal activity
Nominal group technique A decision making method for use among groups of many sizes, who
want to make their decision quickly, as by a vote, but want
everyone's opinions taken into account
Number Needed to Treat (NNT) This measures the impact of a treatment or intervention. It states how
many patients need to be treated with the treatment in question in
order to prevent an event which would otherwise occur. E.g. if the
NNT=4, then 4 patients would have to be treated to prevent one bad
outcome. The closer the NNT is to 1, the better the treatment is.
Analogous to the NNT is the Number Needed to Harm (NNH), which
is the number of patients that would need to receive a treatment to
cause one additional adverse event e.g. if the NNH=4, then 4
patients would have to be treated for one bad outcome to occur.
Objective measure A measurement that follows a standardised procedure which is less
open to subjective interpretation by potentially biased observers and
study participants.
Observation A research technique used to help understand complex situations. It
involves watching, listening to and recording behaviours, actions,
activities and interactions. The settings are usually natural, but they
can be laboratory settings, as in psychological research.
Observational study In research about diseases or treatments, this refers to a study in
which nature is allowed to take its course. Changes or differences in
one characteristic (e.g. whether or not people received a specific
treatment or intervention) are studied in relation to changes or
differences in other(s) (e.g. whether or not they died), without the
intervention of the investigator. There is a greater risk of selection
bias than in experimental studies.
Odds ratio Odds are a way of representing probability, especially familiar for
betting. In recent years odds ratios have become widely used in
reports of clinical studies. They provide an estimate (usually with a
confidence interval) for the effect of a treatment. Odds are used to
convey the idea of ‘risk’ and an odds ratio of 1 between two
treatment groups would imply that the risks of an adverse outcome
were the same in each group. For rare events the odds ratio and the
relative risk (which uses actual risks and not odds) will be very
similar. See also Relative risk, Risk ratio.
Outcome The end result of care and treatment and/or rehabilitation. In other
words, the change in health, functional ability, symptoms or situation
of a person, which can be used to measure the effectiveness of
care/treatment/rehabilitation. Researchers should decide what
outcomes to measure before a study begins; outcomes are then
assessed at the end of the study.
Parenteral Refers to a route of treatment administration that involves giving
drugs into body cavities, usually the blood (by intravenous infusions).

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