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What is new with the Newborn Screening program in Washington? Below are brief descriptions of projects that the Newborn Screening program in Washington is working on currently. If the information contained on this page does not answer all of your questions or you would just simply like more information, please use the embedded links or contact us with your specific question. ALERT: Change in Normal Ranges for CAH Screening Results
On September 1, 2009, we switched to a new testing kit lot for congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). To accommodate differences in the performance of this screening kit, the cutoffs and classification of results for 17-OHP have changed. See the tables below for details. If you have any questions please call us at 206-418-5410 or toll-free at 1-866-660-9050.
Normal = Low risk In August 2009, the following memo was mailed to all health care providers of babies born in Washington State who have submitted newborn screening specimens to our laboratory in the past three years. Caution: Newborn Screening for Cystic Fibrosis Can Miss Cases Newborn screening to detect cystic fibrosis began in Washington on March 15, 2006. Since that time we have been successful in identifying many infants with cystic fibrosis (CF). To date we are not aware of any infants with CF who have had delayed diagnoses based on normal newborn screening results. However, the sensitivity of CF screening is not perfect – we anticipate from newborn screening programs in other states that there will be a small percentage of babies with CF who will have negative screening results (approximately 3% to 6% false negative rate based on data from Colorado). For these reasons we are asking for your assistance in identifying these babies early so they can benefit from treatment. Symptoms of undiagnosed CF are non-specific and may include poor growth, frequent bulky stools, rectal prolapse, recurrent cough/wheezing, and recurrent respiratory infections. If you currently care for children who have any of these symptoms please see the reverse for recommended actions. Also, if you are aware of any children with diagnosed CF who had negative newborn screening results through Washington’s program, please contact us. Children who were born before screening began or who were born out of state may have undetected CF. If you are uncertain of the child’s screening results you can find out by calling us at 206-418-5410, toll free at 1-866-660-9050 or sending us an email: NBS.Prog@doh.wa.gov.
We are grateful for your efforts in making this program a success. If you have questions or comments, please contact John Thompson at 206-418-5531. If you have any concerns that a child has signs or symptoms suggestive of CF, regardless of newborn screening status, we suggest that you order a sweat chloride test (pilocarpine iontophoresis) performed at a Cystic Fibrosis Foundation-accredited clinical laboratory (see below for list). Sweat testing can be reliably performed in children who are older than two weeks of age and weigh more than six pounds. In areas of the state where access to one of the CF Foundation-accredited laboratories is difficult, you may wish to consider ordering a CFTR DNA mutation analysis (minimum of a 23-mutation panel). Please note, however, that a genetic test is not the gold standard test for CF and may miss identifying a true case, particularly in ethnic and racial minorities. If you have questions, please contact our pediatric pulmonologist consultant, Margaret Rosenfeld, at 206-987-5644 or cfnewbornscreening@seattlechildrens.org. If a patient of yours is found to have cystic fibrosis, please do the following:
New Online Order Form for Newborn Screening Supplies Washington State health care providers can now order up to a three-month supply of newborn screening collection kits and 'Newborn Screening Tests and Your Baby' pamphlets online. Each kit includes a specimen collection card, optional hearing test card, envelope addressed to the screening program, and newborn screening educational pamphlet in English. Individual hearing re-screen cards are also available for order. Washington State Board of Health Meeting October 8, 2008 On October 8, 2008, the Newborn Screening program presented statistical data and summary handouts for the years 2005 and 2006 with preliminary data for 2007. Expansion In May 2008, the State Board of Health unanimously approved adding 15 new disorders to the newborn screening panel in Washington State. On July 21, 2008 we began screening for 14 of the new conditions. The last condition, tyrosinemia type I (TYR-I), requires a more complex testing procedure and was added September 22, 2008. No extra blood is needed to test for the new conditions, and there will be no fee increase, as all 15 additional conditions can be tested at the same time by instruments used currently in our laboratory. The new conditions that have been added to the panel are:
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