For more than 2 years since the introduction of expanded neonatal screening of infants in Ukraine, the diagnosis of complex diseases at an early stage of detection has significantly improved. The Ministry of Health reported on the success of the practice and reminded about the importance of examining children in the first days of life, reports UNN.
Details
Since the introduction of expanded neonatal screening in 2022, 410.2 thousand such studies have been conducted in Ukraine.
Diseases were detected in 646 infants, of which 56 were spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).
Diagnostics were carried out in four regional centers:
- more than 146 thousand studies were conducted in the Lviv Regional Center for Neonatal Screening;
- more than 132 thousand — in the Kyiv Center;
- more than 73 thousand — in the Kryvyi Rih Center;
- more than 57 thousand — in the Kharkiv Center.
Addition
Neonatal screening is a medical examination of newborns for certain congenital or rare diseases that may not have symptoms at an early stage, but can lead to serious consequences if treatment is not started in time. Most often, such a study is carried out in the maternity hospital on the 1-3 day after the birth of the child – the baby takes a drop of blood from the heel on a special card, and the sample is sent to the laboratory.
The study is free and voluntary, so the Ministry of Health strongly recommends that you undergo it.
Previously, infants in Ukraine were checked for four hereditary diseases, but since 2022, the number of diseases included in newborn screening in Ukraine has increased to 21.
Let us remind you
In Kyiv's Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital, a bone marrow transplant was performed for the first time in Ukraine to a two-month-old baby.