Meta-Analysis of Zinc Sulfate Efficacy in Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia

A meta-analysis combining evidence from 14 randomized controlled trials comprising 1,405 infants, published on figshare in 2026. The study investigates the effect of oral zinc sulfate on total serum bilirubin levels in newborns with hyperbilirubinemia. Results indicate a modest reduction in bilirubin levels over the first four days, particularly for full-term, normal-birth-weight infants.

Use Cases

• Assessing treatment efficacy for neonatal hyperbilirubinemia based on pooled results from randomized controlled trials.
• Investigating heterogeneity in clinical outcomes based on factors like gestational age and birth weight mentioned in the description.
• Evaluating the impact of zinc sulfate on secondary outcomes like phototherapy and hospital stay duration.
• Supporting systematic review and evidence synthesis in neonatal care.

Strengths

• Includes data from 14 randomized controlled trials with a total of 1,405 infant participants.
• Reports specific mean differences in bilirubin levels at 24, 48, 72 hours and 4 days with confidence intervals and p-values.
• Conducted subgroup analysis by infant type (full-term vs. preterm, normal vs. low birth weight).

Limitations

• The underlying data tables and column definitions are not provided in the description.
• The analysis reports high statistical heterogeneity (I² up to 95.4%) and low certainty of evidence for most outcomes.
• Row count for the source data is unknown, limiting assessment of the raw data scale.

Provenance

Source

Mohamed Saad Sayed via figshare

Collection Method

Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials sourced from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL, Scopus, and Web of Science.

Time Range

Literature search conducted in August 2024, updated October 2025.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-18 05:41:12