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TECHNICAL REPORT |
ABSTRACT
Newborn screening fact sheets were last revised in 1996 by the Committee on Genetics of the American Academy of Pediatrics. These fact sheets have been revised again because of advances in the field, including technologic innovations such as tandem mass spectrometry, as well as greater appreciation of ethical issues such as informed consent. The fact sheets provide information to assist pediatricians and other professionals who care for children in performing their essential role within the newborn screening public health system. The newborn screening system consists of 5 parts: (1) newborn testing; (2) follow-up of abnormal screening results to facilitate timely diagnostic testing and management; (3) diagnostic testing; (4) disease management, which requires coordination with the medical home and genetic counseling; and (5) continuous evaluation and improvement of the newborn screening system. The following disorders are reviewed in the newborn screening fact sheets (which are available at www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/118/3/e934): biotinidase deficiency, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, congenital hearing loss, congenital hypothyroidism, cystic fibrosis, galactosemia, homocystinuria, maple syrup urine disease, medium-chain acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase deficiency, phenylketonuria, sickle cell disease and other hemoglobinopathies, and tyrosinemia.
Key Words: newborn screening • screening • genetic disorder • biotinidase deficiency • congenital adrenal hyperplasia • congenital hearing loss • congenital hypothyroidism • cystic fibrosis • galactosemia • hemoglobinopathies • homocystinuria • maple syrup urine disease • medium-chain acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase deficiency • phenylketonuria • sickle cell disease • tyrosinemia • tandem mass spectrometry
Abbreviations: AAP—American Academy of Pediatrics • MS/MS—tandem mass spectrometry • PKU—phenylketonuria • MCAD—medium-chain acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase • FAO—fatty acid oxidation
Newborn screening fact sheets were last revised in 1996 by the Committee on Genetics of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Publication of these revised newborn screening fact sheets was prompted by advances in the field, including technologic innovations, as well as greater appreciation of ethical issues such as those surrounding informed consent.
NEWBORN SCREENING AS A PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM
Every infant born in the United States is screened shortly after birth using heel-stick blood spots to detect a variety of congenital conditions. Many infants are also screened for congenital hearing loss. Newborn screening programs have been developed and managed within states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and Guam (Table 1). As public health programs, they require a coordinated system of follow-up, diagnosis, and treatment. Periodic program evaluation is also necessary. Thus, newborn screening is not simply a test to identify whether a metabolite is found in unusually high or low concentration in a particular blood spot. Newborn screening is also more than a state-run program that ensures that each abnormal screening result is linked to a particular infant who subsequently receives a diagnostic test and, if indicated, referral for appropriate treatment. Newborn screening is a 5-part system1 in which the pediatrician plays a vital role.
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Part 3: Diagnostic Testing
Many of the disorders identified by newborn screening programs are heterogeneous. This variability requires specialized laboratory testing, interpretation, and treatment. The pediatrician works with specialized laboratories and providers in obtaining appropriate specimens, initiating treatment, diagnosis when appropriate, and coordinating care once the diagnosis is confirmed.
Part 4: Disease Management
Infants affected with disorders detected by newborn screening usually require lifelong management. Every child should have a medical home to coordinate care; that care should be accessible, family centered, continuous, comprehensive, coordinated, compassionate, and culturally competent.3 The pediatrician plays a central role in the development of the medical home, which includes experts who understand the etiology, pathophysiology, clinical heterogeneity, and psychosocial issues associated with the disorder. Genetic counseling, including discussion of carrier testing of family members and prenatal diagnosis of future pregnancies, may be indicated.
Part 5: Evaluation
The newborn screening system can function optimally only when its components are coordinated, which means that there must be regular and timely communication between nurseries, screening laboratories, state health departments, pediatricians, and subspecialists. To ensure that this is happening, the effectiveness of each component of the system must be assessed continuously through the collection and analysis of data, including outcomes data. Although an adequate evaluation program has not been developed for most newborn screening systems, the pediatrician will be central to the implementation of such a program, particularly through the provision of outcomes data.
NEWBORN SCREENING TASK FORCE REPORT
Several factors have contributed to the need for review of the newborn screening system, including enhanced public interest in newborn screening as a universal genetic screening program; the introduction of new technologies such as tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and DNA-based tests; and changing demographics, which emphasize the importance of human variation and cultural competence. In response to this need, the AAP, with support from the Health Resources and Services Administration and the National Institutes of Health, convened a task force to review the role and operation of newborn screening as a public health system.4 The Newborn Screening Task Force outlined a national agenda to strengthen state newborn screening systems through the development of model regulations for disease and test selection; minimum standards for sample collection and other activities; model guidelines for follow-up, diagnosis, and treatment; strategies to inform families and the public more effectively; and demonstration projects to evaluate technology, quality assurance, and health outcomes. The task force report emphasized the need for a sixth component of the 5-part newborn screening system: education of professionals and the public.
INFORMED CONSENT
With the introduction of DNA-based testing as a component of newborn screening panels, consumers, health care professionals, and policy makers have become increasingly aware of issues of informed consent for both the performance of the screening tests and retention and use of residual test samples. Although all states require newborn screening, most newborn screening laws or regulations provide exemptions in some situations.5 Expert panels have not reached consensus, but in general, they have recognized the benefit of informed consent before testing as a tool for educating parents.6 When the validity and utility of the test have been established, experts have usually concluded that informed consent for newborn screening could be waived.7 The Newborn Screening Task Force emphasized the need for education and concluded that, "Before newborn screening, parents (on behalf of their children) have a right to be informed about screening, and have the right to refuse screening. They also have a right to confidentiality and privacy protection for information contained in all newborn screening results."4 The consent process in each state is governed by state law.
Among the benefits, newborn screening may:
Among the risks, newborn screening may:
There is agreement that policy guidelines for residual sample retention and use are needed, but to date, there has been no consensus on the content of such guidelines.
MS/MS
Population screening for phenylketonuria (PKU) began in the 1960s using a relatively simple analytic method. New disorders were added as methods to use blood spots were developed and were applicable to large populations at low cost. By the 1990s, scientific advances and technologic innovations led to the possibility of adding numerous new metabolic disorders to the screening panel using MS/MS (Table 3). Consumers throughout the nation acted quickly through their state legislatures to mandate the addition of medium-chain acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase (MCAD) deficiency and other disorders of fatty acid oxidation (FAO) to the list of disorders for which newborn screening is mandated. Several states now require screening for MCAD deficiency and other disorders of FAO8 (Table 4), and a cost/benefit analysis of MS/MS has been published.9 MS/MS technology can also be used to screen for PKU and some other amino acid disorders and has a rate of false-positive results that is lower than other screening methods. Therefore, states that adopt MS/MS technology to screen for FAO disorders may also revise their panels of amino acid disorders for which they screen (Table 5). In addition, certain screening methods for particular disorders permit the diagnosis of other conditions that were not originally designated on the list of disorders for newborn screening. These have been called "secondary-target conditions" (Table 6). Pediatricians, who are central to the newborn screening system as discussed earlier, will need to be familiar with these new disorders as they are added to screening panels or are diagnosed because the technology for newborn screening identifies them (secondary-target conditions).
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ROLE OF DNA ANALYSIS IN NEWBORN SCREENING
Analysis of DNA for mutations is not a primary screening method for any of the disorders for which newborn screening is performed today. However, secondary DNA analysis may be used in conjunction with other tests to decrease the rate of false-positive results. It may also be used as a diagnostic test for certain disorders.
CONCERNS AND CONTROVERSIES
Because the initial test in the newborn screening process is a screening test, there is a significant risk of false-positive (abnormal test, normal infant) and false-negative (normal test, affected infant) results. False-positive results lead to additional testing and parental anxiety, and long-term consequences such as the vulnerable-child syndrome may occur. False-negative results may lead to a delay in diagnosis, because the health care professional may be falsely reassured by a normal newborn screening result. These possibilities raise clinical and ethical issues, which should be discussed with parents before testing.
There is a lack of uniformity between states regarding the diseases screened and the technology used. Such lack of uniformity results in the place of birth determining the likelihood of early diagnosis of these serious but treatable conditions. Newborn screening rules and statutes require that a newborn infant be screened using the panel in the state in which he or she was born, not necessarily the state in which the mother is a resident. There is also controversy regarding whether newborn screening should incorporate conditions for which highly effective interventions that reduce morbidity for the child are unavailable. Numerous state and national organizations have convened groups to discuss these issues and propose policies, but no national consensus has been developed.10 Finally, it must be emphasized that "normal" results of newborn screenings do not rule out the presence of these disorders, because some variants of these conditions may have onset later in life, and false-negative results may occur. The clinical judgment of the pediatrician remains the most important tool in the diagnosis of all of these conditions.
INDEX OF NEWBORN SCREENING FACT SHEETS
The following newborn screening fact sheets are available at www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/118/3/e934:
COMMITTEE ON GENETICS, 2005–2006
G. Bradley Schaefer, MD, Chairperson
Marilyn J. Bull, MD
Gregory M. Enns, MD
Jeffrey R. Gruen, MD
Joseph H. Hersh, MD
Nancy J. Mendelsohn, MD
Howard M. Saal, MD
LIAISONS
James D. Goldberg, MD
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
James W. Hanson, MD
American College of Medical Genetics
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Michele A. Lloyd-Puryear, MD, PhD
Health Resources and Services Administration
Sonja A. Rasmussen, MD, MS
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
STAFF
Paul Spire
NEWBORN SCREENING FACT SHEETS AD HOC WRITING SUBCOMMITTEE
Celia I. Kaye, MD, PhD, Chairperson
Past Member, AAP Committee on Genetics
Frank Accurso, MD
Past Member, AAP Section on Pulmonology
Stephen La Franchi, MD
AAP Section on Endocrinology
Peter A. Lane, MD
AAP Section on Hematology/Oncology
Hope Northrup, MD
AAP Section on Genetics and Birth Defects
Sonya Pang, MD
Past Member, AAP Section on Endocrinology
G. Bradley Schaefer, MD
AAP Committee on Genetics
Michele A. Lloyd-Puryear, MD, PhD
Health Resources and Services Administration
CONTRIBUTOR
Michael Watson, MD
American College of Medical Genetics
FOOTNOTES
The guidance in this report does not indicate an exclusive course of treatment or serve as a standard of medical care. Variations, taking into account individual circumstances, may be appropriate.
All technical reports from the American Academy of Pediatrics automatically expire 5 years after publication unless reaf.rmed, revised, or retired at or before that time.
REFERENCES
The following policy statement has been revised:
This article has been cited by other articles:
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  A. Slowther Predictive testing and population screening Clin Ethics, March 1, 2008; 3(1): 11 - 13. [Full Text] [PDF]
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 F. J. Accurso Update in Cystic Fibrosis 2006 Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., April 15, 2007; 175(8): 754 - 757. [Full Text] [PDF]
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