Newborn thyroid screening in a municipal hospital

P. Harris and N. G. Dreyfus

Successful recall of patients with abnormal results of neonatal screening tests is difficult to accomplish. A system of centralization of the process was implemented at a municipal hospital and evaluated after one year. Two thousand two hundred thirty-four newborn infants were screened for congenital hypothyroidism. Ninety-one percent of the 101 infants who required recall were returned for retesting. Centralization of the process of recall of newborns with abnormal screen results was an effective way to obtain additional specimens successfully in a setting in which patients use carried pediatric primary health care facilities. However, the high recall rate experienced by our hospital resulted in high costs in terms of professional and personnel time and anxiety for the individual families.