Connect
MJA
MJA

The case for newborn screening for congenital adrenal hyperplasia in Australia

Garry L Warne, Katrina L Armstrong, Thomas A Faunce, Bridget M Wilcken, Avihu Boneh, Elizabeth Geelhoed and Maria E Craig
Med J Aust 2010; 192 (2): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2010.tb03432.x
Published online: 18 January 2010

To the Editor: We write to encourage policy debate over newborn screening for congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). Classical CAH is a severe, life-threatening disease affecting about one in 15 000 liveborn infants in Australia.1 An inexpensive screening test for newborns is available, but this test is not included in the current newborn screening program in Australia.


  • 1 Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, VIC.
  • 2 Australasian Paediatric Endocrine Group, Sydney, NSW.
  • 3 CLAN (Caring and Living As Neighbours), Sydney, NSW.
  • 4 Australian National University, Canberra, ACT.
  • 5 Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW.
  • 6 Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne, VIC.
  • 7 University of Western Australia, Perth, WA.


Correspondence: m.craig@unsw.edu.au

  • 1. Gleeson HK, Wiley V, Wilcken B, et al. Two-year pilot study of newborn screening for congenital adrenal hyperplasia in New South Wales compared with nationwide case surveillance in Australia. J Paediatr Child Health 2008; 44: 554-559.
  • 2. Working Group on Neonatal Screening of the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology. Procedure for neonatal screening for congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency. Horm Res 2001; 55: 201-205.
  • 3. Gozzi TG, Harris NP, McGown IN, et al. Autopsy diagnosis of 21-hydroxylase deficiency CAH in a case of apparent SIDS. Pediatr Dev Pathol 2005; 8: 397-401.
  • 4. Strnadova KA, Votava F, Lebl J, et al. Prevalence of congenital adrenal hyperplasia among sudden infant death in the Czech Republic and Austria. Eur J Pediatr 2007; 166: 1-4.
  • 5. Yoo BK, Grosse SD. The cost effectiveness of screening newborns for congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Public Health Genomics 2009; 12: 67-72.

Author

remove_circle_outline Delete Author
add_circle_outline Add Author

Comment
Do you have any competing interests to declare? *

I/we agree to assign copyright to the Medical Journal of Australia and agree to the Conditions of publication *
I/we agree to the Terms of use of the Medical Journal of Australia *
Email me when people comment on this article

Online responses are no longer available. Please refer to our instructions for authors page for more information.