Key Findings: State Actions to Adopt Newborn Screening for Critical Congenital Heart Defects

NCBDDD SCIENCE ALERT

CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report has published a new study looking at state actions to adopt newborn screening for critical congenital heart defects (critical CHDs) using pulse oximetry – a simple, non-invasive way to measure the amount of oxygen in a newborn’s blood. CDC researchers found that 43 states have taken action toward newborn screening for critical CHDs through legislation, regulations, or hospital guidelines. This report is the first assessment of state actions to adopt newborn screening for critical CHDs and state efforts to collect data about screening. States and hospitals might find this information valuable as they evaluate their efforts and seek to improve their newborn screening programs.

Data collection and reporting are essential to evaluate the effectiveness of newborn critical CHD screening. The type of data collected varies by state, and may include:
• The total number of babies screened for critical CHDs in the state
• The number of babies that pass or fail the screen
• The oxygen levels of every newborn screened
• The oxygen levels only for those newborns that failed the screen
• A combination of these types of data

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