By Jeffrey Nafash, MD, MPH; Adity Joshi, MD; David Sorrentino, MD; Benjamin Lentzner, MD
Introduction
Since 2011, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) has recommended that screening for Critical Congenital Heart Disease (CCHD) via pulse oximetry be included in the uniform screening panel for all newborn infants in the well-baby nursery.1
This screening test has subsequently been endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Today, it is estimated that >/= 90% of infants born in the United States undergo this screening prior to discharge from the hospital.2 Before Universal CCHD screening, up to 37% of CCHD cases were not identified before the first day of life or before discharge from the hospital.3-5 CCHD screening with pulse oximetry has been shown to have a sensitivity of 76.5% and a specificity of 99.9%.5,6 Pulse oximetry does not seek to diagnose specific subtypes of heart disease; rather, it is designed to identify patients who would immediately benefit from further evaluation.
To read the full article, please go to the January 2018 Issue of CCT, where it was originally published.