Newborn screening for hypothyroidism

Congenital hypothyroidism is a common birth defect in newborns, with an incidence of about 1:3000 in China. Because the child has significantly low thyroid hormones, it will lead to delayed neurological development and mental retardation, as well as significant physical developmental abnormalities, showing signs of cretinism. If thyroid hormone replacement therapy is detected after birth and administered promptly, the child can be saved from mental and physical developmental abnormalities and resume normal growth and development as a fully normal child. The disease can be easily screened for by collecting heel or umbilical cord blood specimens (microscopic) from newborns 2-4 days after birth. Newborn screening is an important measure to improve the quality of the population, in developed countries around the world such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France and other newborn screening, including low A coverage has reached 90-100%, China’s Ministry of Health has long issued the corresponding newborn screening regulations, but the implementation of uneven across the country, in Beijing, Shanghai and other large cities and open coastal cities such as Guangdong newborn low A screening has covered 90-100% of newborns in large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai and open coastal cities such as Guangdong, but the coverage rate in remote areas is not optimistic. According to the latest information, China’s current newborn screening rate is only about 50%, based on the annual birth population of 15,000,000, then there will be more than 2,500 children in China each year due to failure to be screened for timely treatment and disability, which will cause a heavy burden on society and families. Children are the babies of their parents and the future of their families and the country. In order for these children to grow up healthily, we hope that every family and parent will pay attention to newborn screening for low nail level and have their children screened in time.