SCREENING FOR ALL NEWBORNS URGED FOR SICKLE-CELL DISEASE

Abstract

WASHINGTON, April 27—Issuing new guidelines for diagnosing and treating sickle-cell disease, a Federal panel recommended today that all newborns be screened for the blood condition, regardless of race. The expert panel, which spent two years studying what is known about sickle-cell disease, said that although the disorder was most prevalent in African-Americans, looking for it only in blacks would miss too many other children who should be treated. "Even though the rate of sickle-cell disease is lower in some populations than in others, sickle-cell disease can and does occur in almost all racial and ethnic groups," said Dr. Jeanne A. Smith of Harlem Hospital Center in New York, cochairman of the 13-member panel that drafted the guidelines... The new guidelines were endorsed by several medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Nurses Association, the National Medical Association and the National Association for Sickle Cell Disease... Copies of the sickle-cell treatment guidelines for newborns and infants, in versions for doctors and health workers, as well as for parents, can be obtained by writing to Sickle Cell Disease, A.H.C.P.R. Publications Clearinghouse, PO Box 8517, Silver Spring, MD 20907, or calling (800) 358-9295.