Newborn babies in Tennessee are screened for more than 50 conditions. Starting January 1, they’ll also get a more thorough check for congenital heart defects.
A doctor’s stethoscope can discover some heart defects in newborns. Others are harder to detect, and may not cause problems for the baby until days after they’ve left the hospital. A better way to listen for heart defects is with a device called a pulse oximeter. It’s a test many hospitals perform already.
Dr. Stuart Shapira is a pediatrician at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It is a simple, painless test where a device similar to a glove is placed on a finger or toe of the baby and it measures the amount of oxygen in the baby’s blood.”
Few newborns in Tennessee have heart defects, Less than one percent—about 90 of the 90 or so thousand babies born each year, according to the Department of Health. But the defects can be fatal if not treated, and some require surgery. Tennessee’s new law mandating the test is based on recommendations from federal health officials and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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