Benefits outweigh risks associated with newborn screening for disorder
Thursday, February 11, 2010 - 00:15
in Health & Medicine
Newborn screening for a metabolic disorder could lead to false positives -- adding stress to parents, costing money and possibly subjecting a baby to unnecessary follow-up treatment and dietary restrictions. But the benefits of diagnosing these children early and preventing the risk of mental retardation, disability or death outweigh the costs of a false positive, according to new research.