This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Spady, D. W.
Right arrow Articles by Bamforth, F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Spady, D. W.
Right arrow Articles by Bamforth, F.
Related Collections
Right arrow Genetics & Dysmorphology

PEDIATRICS Vol. 102 No. 2 August 1998, p. e21

ELECTRONIC ARTICLE:
Who Gets Missed: Coverage in a Provincial Newborn Screening Program for Metabolic Disease

Received Nov 20, 1997; accepted Apr 8, 1998.

Donald W. Spady*, L. Duncan SaundersDagger , and Fiona Bamforth§

From the * Departments of Pediatrics, Dagger  Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, and § Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Walter Mackenzie Health Sciences Center, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Objective.  To determine coverage of the newborn screening program (NSP) for metabolic disease in Alberta, Canada, and to determine reasons for not being screened.

Study Design.  Coverage was estimated by deterministic matching of live birth registration data with newborn screening data for the year 1992. Demographic characteristics of not-matched infants were compared with good-match infants using logistic regression.

Results.  For 42 392 live births, there were 41 553 screening records, of which 40 593 infants were very good matches to NSP records. Another 960 were possible matches. A total of 839 infants were not matched at all, and coverage was estimated at 98.0%. Determinants of infant not-matched status were death in week 1 (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 383); birth weight of <1500 g (adjusted OR: 18.9) or between 1500 and 2500 g (adjusted OR: 3.2); having a mother who was single (adjusted OR: 2.7) or formerly married (adjusted OR: 12.9); or being born out of hospital (OR: 19.2). The calculated 98% coverage is close to an estimate of 98.3% made by the NSP comparing total births with initial screenings.

Conclusion.  The matched data give insight as to who was missed and point to the need for closer attention for infants at greater risk of not being screened for metabolic disease.

Key words: infant, newborn, neonatal screening, metabolism, inborn errors.