- The neonatal screening is free in all public health institutions in Mexico.
- This test allows timely detection of diseases or disorders that could also cause irreversible damage and even death.
- In the IMSS alone, around 427,000 tests of this type are carried out each year.
There are reviews that by obligation must be carried out in all newborns. The biggest example is the Neonatal sieve because it allows detecting, diagnosing and initiating timely treatment in the presence of metabolic disorders. Now, the most important part is that there are several types and each one focuses on a specific aspect.
What are the most common?
With this in mind, the National Institute of Perinatology (INPer) “Isidro Espinosa de los Reyes” announced that it applies five different ones for the timely detection of diseases or alterations that could cause disability, irreversible damage and even death of the newborn person. are those of metabolic, auditory, visual and cardiac type.
The INPer Comprehensive Neonatal Screening coordinator, Montserrat Flores Robles, indicated that the risk population is also applied motor sieve. He stressed that the application of the metabolic sieve is one of the most cost-effective strategies and can make a difference in that the girl or boy lives with equal opportunities while avoid any disability or irreversible mental retardation.
He highlighted that, in Mexico, public health institutions apply the neonatal screening free of charge. The objective is to detect diseases that may not be apparent at birth, but that put the quality of life or the life of the newborn at risk.
Diseases that can be identified with a neonatal screening
Metabolic screening must be performed between the third and fifth day of life and consists of taking a blood sample from the heel, which is analyzed to detect diseases such as: congenital hypothyroidism, phenylketonuria, galactosemia, cystic fibrosis, congenital adrenal hyperplasia and glucose deficiency, among others.
Most metabolic disorders are genetic in origin. In Mexico, the National Center for Gender Equity and Reproductive Health (CNEGSR) reports the incidence of one case of metabolic disease for every thousand newborns; Globally, it is estimated that they affect one in every 500 girls and boys.
In the country, congenital hypothyroidism -inadequate formation of the thyroid gland- is the most common metabolic disease, with an incidence of one in every 1,400 newborns.
The specialist specified that another type of sieve is cardiac, to detect life-threatening critical heart disease. With a pulse oximeter placed in the right hand and one foot, the oxygen saturation is measured, which must be greater than 93 in both extremities.
He reported that these conditions affect one in 400 newborns. Likewise, one percent of newborns have congenital heart disease; 25 percent can be critical.
He also referred to visual or ophthalmological screening, which consists of examination to detect any alteration in the ocular structures, eyelids, cornea and lens. Also, the pupillary reflex is evaluated and the retina is checked. This test is carried out at one month of life.
Flores Robles explained that congenital cataract and retinoblastoma are the conditions that most put visual health at risk and occur in one in every 10,000 girls and boys. There are other milder alterations that can present up to 25 percent of newborns.
He stressed that hearing screening should be performed in the first month of birth. It consists of placing probes in the ear to measure the response to auditory stimuli, in order to verify that there is no alteration in the auditory canal or inner ear. It is estimated that one in three thousand may be deaf.
The INPer also applies motor screening for the detection of early signs of infantile cerebral palsy, especially in premature girls and boys weighing less than 1,500 grams.
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