Background: Transcutaneous O2 saturation screening of newborns is recommended by many leading professional organizations to identify newborns with critical congenital heart defects (CCHD) so as to permit intervention before clinical decompensation occurs.
Aim: To determine when CCHD in newborns were first identified.
Methods: We reviewed the charts of the 649 infants who had at least one critical congenital heart defect listed on their discharge summary and who were treated at Hadassah Medical Center between the years 2010-2016. The age of identification of the defect was classified into 3 periods: prenatal, before postnatal discharge and after discharge. Infants born overseas, in the Palestinian Authority, and in the east Jerusalem Hospitals were excluded from this analysis.
Results: Of the 458 infants included, 50.7% of the CCHD were identified prenatally, 36% identified before the newborn was discharged and 7.4% after discharge. The overall rate of identification CCHD before discharge increased over the study period; in 2010 it was 77.8% whereas in 2016 it was 96.6%.
Conclusion: Most CCHD in infants in this study were detected prenatally or immediately after birth. Transcutaneous O2 saturation screening of newborns in similar populations in Israel is expected to have a low yield.
