title: Audit of newborn screening programme for congenital hypothyroidism.
abstract: Newborn screening for congenital hypothyroidism (CH) was implemented in Hospital UKM in December 2004 using cord blood sample. From the audit over a period of 25 months, a total of 13,875 newborn babies were screened with a coverage of 98.8%. From this cohort, the mean recall rate was 0.32%; unfortunately the mean percentage of recalled babies that came for retesting was only 79.5%. In addition, the mean sample rejection rate was high, i.e. 2.2%. Two babies were diagnosed to have CH. These findings implied that whilst the coverage of screening was good, there is a need for regular surveillance of performance of both clinical and laboratory personnel. In addition, a more concerted effort should be carried out to promote community awareness of such a programme.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur. zarinaal@mail.hukm.ukm.my
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Zarina
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rahmah
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Bador
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D003409:Congenital Hypothyroidism / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008485:Medical Audit; D015997:Neonatal Screening; D013972:Thyrotropin / Q000097:blood; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D013972:Thyrotropin; D013974:Thyroxine