Effect of Natural Products on Jaundice in Iranian Neonates

Neonatal jaundice is the most common clinical problem in preterm and term neonates, and phototherapy is the most frequent treatment method for this condition. Researchers have long held that the use of natural products, especially medicinal plants, can reduce the incidence of neonatal jaundice, and in turn, the use of phototherapy in the treatment of neonatal jaundice in some countries including Iran. We aimed to carry out a systematic review on the effects of natural products on jaundice in Iranian neonates. Articles evaluating the effect of natural products on jaundice in Iranian neonates until the end of 2017 were searched using Google Scholar and IranMedex, SID, Magiran, IranDoc, Medlib, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, Embase, Web of Science, and Medline databases.  Studies evaluating the effect of natural products on neonatal jaundice were included in the study. Studies were selected from the databases by screening titles, keywords and abstracts. Hence, all the articles which had the keywords in their titles, keywords or abstracts were selected. The inclusion criteria included: carrying out the study in Iran, being performed on neonates and using a natural product (herbal or non-herbal) to reduce neonatal jaundice. The articles that did not meet these criteria were excluded.  The ideal reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA) checklist was used to evaluate the quality of the articles. Finally, a checklist was designed by the researchers to collect the data. The items of the checklist were the name of the first author of article, study objective, study setting, age, weight, number and gender of the neonates included, name, dose and frequency of the use of the natural product, route of delivery, and method of using the natural product (such as oral/non-oral). The number of neonates enrolled in the 21 included studies was 2237. The effect of natural products on preventing neonatal jaundice was not statistically significant, but in some studies, the use of natural products in combination with phototherapy was found to be effective in the treatment of neonatal jaundice. The use of natural products for the prevention and treatment of neonatal jaundice requires further studies, but the usage of natural products such as medicinal plants like Cotoneaster with phototherapy could be possibly effective in reducing the duration of phototherapy and hospitalization.