MONTGOMERY – The Alabama Department of Public Health urges parents to have newborns screened within 24 to 48 hours after birth. The tests can detect serious conditions before symptoms appear.
September is Newborn Screening Awareness Month across the United States. ADPH says early testing can identify genetic, metabolic, and other congenital disorders that may not appear at birth.
Without treatment, those disorders can cause serious illness, developmental disability, intellectual impairment, or death.
Screening identifies about 200 Alabama babies with a condition each year. Doctors can then begin treatment within the first few weeks of life. That timing may help prevent complications from disorders such as sickle cell disease and cystic fibrosis.
What Alabama’s Newborn Screening Includes
Alabama’s screening panel includes a dried bloodspot test, often called a heel stick. It also includes hearing screening and pulse oximetry.
Pulse oximetry helps detect critical congenital heart disease. Altogether, Alabama’s panel covers 35 of the 40 disorders recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The ADPH Bureau of Clinical Laboratories screens about 120,000 specimens annually. The state continues to expand screening as health officials recommend more disorders for the national panel.
What Parents Should Know
Parents should tell the hospital which doctor will care for their baby. That information helps ensure timely follow-up when a screening result needs more attention.
ADPH also advises parents to ask about screening results during the baby’s first doctor visit.
The agency provides follow-up, awareness, and education through its newborn screening program. WEIS previously reported that ADPH’s public health social work services support Newborn Hearing Screening and Newborn Screening Care Coordination.
Parents can find more information through the Alabama Newborn Screening Program.
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