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For Immediate Release Tuesday, June 13 2006
Colorado Newborn Screening Expands July 1 to Include 23
Additional Disorders
Denver — Beginning Saturday, July 1, the Colorado newborn screening
program will expand to include testing for 23 additional metabolic
diseases, bringing the total number of screened conditions to 30
metabolic diseases plus hearing.
Hospitals and health care providers throughout the state routinely
submit blood samples from newborns to the Colorado Department of Public
Health and Environment’s Laboratory Services Division, where screening
tests are conducted.
According to Jim Beebe, program manager for the laboratory, Colorado’s
current newborn screening panel includes seven metabolic disorders plus
hearing. As of July 1, the panel will include 23 additional conditions
recommended by the federal government, the American College of Medical
Genetics and the March of Dimes. Beebe said the expanded screening will
test for amino acid, organic acid and fatty acid oxidation disorders.
The health department’s lab will test for the additional conditions,
along with one of the original seven, with a relatively new screening
technology known as tandem mass spectrometry, Beebe said. The lab will
use traditional methods for the six remaining original tests.
The Inherited Metabolic Diseases (IMD) clinic at Children’s Hospital
will provide follow-up consultation to primary care physicians of babies
who test positive for these diseases. Eleven of the conditions,
considered “metabolic emergencies,” warrant immediate medical
intervention, which can save the lives of affected babies.
“We’re pleased that this mandate will make the expanded testing a
routine procedure,” Beebe said, “because the tests will give health care
providers crucial information they need to intervene in time to save the
lives of infants.”
The Colorado health department’s Laboratory Services Division also
conducts newborn screening tests for Wyoming, and that state is
expanding its screening panel on July 1 to include the 30 conditions as
well.
A list of the 30 conditions on the expanded newborn screening panel
accompanies this press release.
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