Are very premature infants screened differently?
Beginning in January 2006, the Newborn Screening Program undertook an initiative to improve the screening process for infants with birth weights under 1800 grams. Due to their immaturity, these small infants are more likely to have conditions that are missed by standard screening protocols. Prematurity, together with the therapeutic regimens that very low birth weight babies require, also make false positive results more likely. When a baby weighing less than 1800 grams is born, the Newborn Screening Program requests that specimens be collected at 14 and 30 days of age in addition to the initial newborn screen. Reviewing the results of the three screens as the infant matures is likely to give a more complete picture of risk for the screened conditions. This reflexive rescreening protocol is likely to reduce both false positive and false negative results for NICU babies. All specimens from infants weighing less than 1800 grams at birth should be collected on a yellow newborn screening c
