Light Reduction Capabilities of Homemade and Commercial Incubator Covers in NICU

Table 1

Light levels in NICU and with different types of lighting.

Year	Light levels	Source of data
1960s	10 foot candles (100 luxes)	Glass et al., 1985 [19]
1980s	90 foot candles (900 luxes)	Glass et al., 1985 [19]
1981	Mean = 53 foot candles (530 luxes); Range = 34–140 foot candles (344–1400 luxes)	Gottfried et al., 1981 [34]
1990s	19–148 foot candles (192–1488 luxes)	Glotzbach et al., 1993 [35, 36],; Robinson et al., 1990
1998	During day: mean = 29 foot candles (290 luxes); During evening: mean = 34 foot candles (340 luxes); During night: mean = 22 foot candles (220 luxes)	Gray et al., 1998 [37]
2001	Individual lighting decreases daytime ambient light level from 20 foot candles (200 luxes) to 1.5 foot candles (15 luxes); Fluorescent lights provide 19 foot candles (193 luxes); Halogen spot light on “maximum” provides 19-20 candles (193–202 luxes); Halogen spot light on default provides 1.2 foot candles (12 luxes)	Walsh-Sukys et al., 2001 [12]
2002	>646 luxes (60 footcandles)	American Academy of Pediatrics (2006) [38]