Abstract: Objective To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of incipient neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. Methods The clinical data of admitted neonates with hyperbilirubinemia were retrospectively analyzed from June 2012 to May 2013. Results Two hundred and eight-four neonates with hyperbilirubinemia were enrolled and the ratio of male:female was 1.51:1. For the causes of hyperbilirubinemia, the incidences of ABO hemolytic and sepsis were higher in term infants than those in preterm infants, and the incidences of pneumonia, necrotizing enterocolitis and intracranial hemorrhage were higher in preterm infants than those in term infants (P<0.05). Compared with the preterm infants, the term infants had jaundice appearance and peak at earlier time, shorter duration of jaundice, faster decline rate of jaundice, higher levels of albumin and indirect bilirubin at the peak of jaundice (P<0.01). In the term infants, the time of jaundice appearance and peak were earlier in hemolytic group than those in non-hemolytic group (P<0.05). In preterm infants, the peak of transcutaneous bilirubin was higher in hemolytic group than that in non-hemolytic group (P<0.05). Six cases with bilirubin encephalopathy had abnormalities cranial MRI imaging, and the MRI was not entirely consistent with the peak level of bilirubin. Conclusions There are clinical differences between hemolytic and non-hemolytic hyperbilirubinemia in both term and preterm infants.