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Screening for congenital heart disease launched

ABU DHABI — The Health Authority – Abu Dhabi (HAAD), in association with the Children’s National Medical Centre, rolled out a newborn screening programme in the emirate for critical cyanotic congenital heart disease (CCCHD)—the most serious form of congenital heart disease (CHD).

The programme aims to increase knowledge and skills in pulse oximetry, a non-invasive and cost-effective screening procedure that detects CCCHD in newborns.

When used in combination with prenatal ultrasounds and postnatal physical examinations, detection rate for CCCHD improved to more than 95 per cent, compared to a rate of 60 to 70 per cent using traditional approaches. By using pulse oximetry, the HAAD estimates that 10 Abu Dhabi children each year will be diagnosed with CCCHD and will receive treatment early enough to manage the condition more 
effectively.

“This particular test is highly recommended in order to detect critical congenital heart diseases before the newborn is discharged from the maternity hospital. It will be fully integrated into the neonatal screening programme, which begun implementation in 2010,” said Dr Shereena Al Mazrouie, Senior Officer of Family and School Health 
at the HAAD.

In late January, a team from the Children’s National Medical Centre visited all regions of Abu Dhabi to meet with representatives from their twenty three maternity hospitals and to present the scientific background and methodology of the pulse oximetry screening test.

This programme is the first in a series of initiatives where the HAAD and Children’s National Medical Centre will collaborate to identify improvements in paediatric care that will benefit children worldwide. Failing to detect CCCHD while in the nursery may lead to critical events such as cardiogenic shock and death. Early diagnosis of CCCHD can improve the prognosis of affected newborns, decrease the mortality and morbidity rate, lower the risk for brain injury and prevent developmental delay.

Research shows that children who are diagnosed with CCCHD later in life tend to require more hospital care and greater resources, and have worse health outcomes in the long term. The HAAD estimates that three or four out of 1,000 newborns will obtain a positive pulse oximetry test which will require further investigation, and that about one in 1,000 of these will then require some form of paediatric 
surgery. “Diagnosing and treating CCCHD in its early stages is key. That’s why it is so important to have pulse oximetry screening available to all newborns,” said Dr Gerard Martin, co-director of Children’s National Heart Institute at Children’s National.

olivia@khaleejtimes.com

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