March of Dimes Statement on Newborn Screening Supplement in Pediatrics

The March of Dimes endorses the call for a national standard for state newborn screening programs made today in a supplement to Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

The March of Dimes and AAP both support efforts to achieve equity in newborn screening for all babies in the United States, regardless of state in which they are born. The March of Dimes supports the recommendations made by the experts of the American College of Medical Genetics to screen all babies for a uniform core panel of 29 treatable conditions, and urges Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to accept these recommendations as a uniform national standard. This report also was endorsed by AAP and the HHS Secretary's Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders and Genetic Diseases in Newborns and Children.
 
Newborn screening programs have been so successful that screening now is routine for millions of babies born each year in the United States and in much of the world.  But disparities remain because not all states test for all of the 29 core conditions.

The March of Dimes supports timely evaluation of the effectiveness of state screening programs, program expansion, as well as periodic review and updates of the uniform panel of conditions.  Parents and health professionals should be fully informed of the benefits and availability of comprehensive newborn screening. The March of Dimes advocates for all states to screen for at least these 29 core conditions and for an increase in federal funding for newborn screening activities.

The supplement, “A Look at Newborn Screening: Today and Tomorrow,” was published May 1 in Vol. 117, No. 5 of Pediatrics.