Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day is commemorated annually on 14 th February to raise awareness and educate people about congenital heart defects. Improved awareness can lead to improved newborn screening to promptly diagnose critical congenital heart disease (CCHD). Newborn screening for CCHD with pulse oximetry has led to a significant reduction in mortality and morbidity. However, there remain opportunities to improve.
Experts from the USA have evaluated various approaches to screening, their effect on CCHD outcomes, and supporting evidence to identify improvement opportunities in the current recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for pulse oximetry screening for CCHD. Suggested modifications Figure1 . Revised pulse oximetry screening algorithm (Martin GR et al. Pediatrics 2020) Abbreviation: RH- Right hand Implications of the modifications These modifications…
