AAP Recommends Newborn Congenital Heart Disease Screening
According to a recent report of clinical strategies in Pediatrics, The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests pulse oximetry screening for critical congenital heart disease in most newborn care settings.
The objective of this recommendation is to distinguish those newborns with structural heart defects generally associated with hypoxia in the newborn period that could have considerable morbidity or mortality early in life with closing of the ductus arteriosus or other physiologic changes.
Although newborn screening for CCHD was recommended by the United States Health and Human Services to encourage early detection, it was not implemented anywhere yet.
New Jersey will soon begin screening for CCHD for all newborns before discharge from the hospital. Individual states will use the recommendations from this report for guidance concerning implementing CCHD newborn screening.