Newborn genetic screening is an effort to discover adverse genetic conditions in infants, according to the Genetics Department at the University of Utah. The existence of this program enables doctors to get ahead of the diseases by planning early treatment regimens for affected children. It also allows parents to become educated and prepared to deal with their child's condition.
Why Do Genetic Screening?
Parents opt to have their newborn screened for genetic diseases for several reasons. Doctors can improve the quality of life of children with certain diseases if treatment for the disease is started early on, before the condition has time to damage the body. For genetic diseases that will affect a newborn later in life, knowing the child will have the disease enables the parents to keep up with the latest treatment developments as their child grows. They can also encourage the child to lead a lifestyle that will mentally and physically prepare her for the disease.
Common Disorders Included in Screening
Newborns should be screened for any genetic disease that runs in her family. Some diseases that commonly run in families are Duchenne muscular dystrophy, fragile X syndrome, cystic fibrosis and several chromosomal disorders. Your inclusion in an certain ethnic group might be justification enough to have your newborn screened for a genetic disease. For example, cystic fibrosis is common among whites, Tay-Sachs disease is common among Ashkenazi Jews, thalassemia is common among Mediterraneans and sickle-celled anemia is common among blacks.
Who Provides Genetic Screening?
Most hospitals provide genetic screening to newborns as a requirement of the state. Some even perform the screening automatically. The specific screening requirements differ among the states, with lawmakers deciding who should be screened and what they should be screened for. State legislatures also decide who pays for the screening, who can access the results and how, in the public health arena, the results will be handled.
Payment for Screening
In most states, the genetic screening of their newborn costs parents, as of August 2010, between $15 and $60, according to the Online Lab Test Organization. Insurance usually picks up the fee, which does not cover the entire cost of the testing. State-run public health systems often cover the rest of the cost. The results of genetic testing can mean that parents will have to shoulder additional health care costs for children with genetic conditions. These expenses are usually paid for with a mixture of out-of-pocket, insurance and state money.
Testing Before the Baby Is Born
Some parents choose to have their babies tested for genetic conditions before they are born. In such testing, doctors take some amniotic fluid from the mother's womb and extract embryonic or fetal cells from it. The DNA from these cells can be tested for genetic abnormalities. Some parents may decide to abort a pregnancy based on the results of these tests.
Other parents choose to test themselves even before conceiving a child. If one or both parents find that they carry the gene for a devastating disease, they may decide to adopt or abstain from raising children altogether.
