According to researchers from William Paterson University, Emory University, and the CDC, screening for CCHD could save at least 120 babies a year.
Congenital heart disease accounted for 6% of U.S. infant deaths from 1999 to 2006. Almost 1 in every 4 babies born with a congenital heart defect has critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) and will need surgery or other procedures in the first year. About 7,200 babies born in the U.S .each year have 1 of 7 CCHDs. But some babies can seem healthy and be sent home before the heart defect is detected.
In 2011, CCHD was added to the U.S. Recommended Uniform Screening Panel for newborns. As of June 2013, 8 states had implemented mandatory screening policies, 5 had voluntary screening policies, and 9 had adopted but not yet implemented mandates.
The study was conducted in 2013 and involved data for nearly 27 million births. Between 2007 and 2013, 2,734 infants died due to CCHD; 3,967 died of other or unspecified causes.
The study, which is the first look at the impact of state policies to require or recommend screening for CCHD at birth, found that states with screening requirements saw the most significant drop in numbers of infant deaths. Voluntary policies or mandated policies not yet implemented were not associated with reductions. However, 47 states and DC now have mandatory screening policies in place.