Vitamin K Prophylaxis for Newborns: A Position Paper

Disorder (VKDBD), has been a recognized clinical entity for over 150 years, and the discovery of vitamin K led to a Nobel Prize for Dam and Doisy in 1943. Vitamin K given to newborns as a routine has been the standard recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics since 1961, and reaffirmed in 2003 (1).Vitamin K by injection is mandatory in the United States (2) and other countries. Despite its wide professional acceptance and successful application (3), the subject of routine vitamin K for newborns has not been adopted by major international health organizations such as WHO, UNICEF and other aid agencies. In 2005, Lancet published a special series on neonatal mortality in developing countries and a follow-up in 2006 (4) which failed to address or even mention HDN, or VKDBD or Vitamin K. Nor are these are included in a 2006 WHO guide for pregnancy and newborn care (5) which serves as a guide and standard of care especially for developing countries. These omissions are surprising and regrettable since clinically significant unexpected bleeding occurs in 2.5 to 17.0 per thousand newborns not given vitamin K prophylactically (1) in the gastrointestinal or urinary tract, the umbilical stump and intracranially. Late VKD