Worldwide Coverage of Newborn Screening for Congenital Hypothyroidism—A Public Health Challenge

Abstract

Despite the fact that programs began detecting neonates with congenital hypothyroidism (CH) over 40 years ago, at present only 30 % of the world birth population (approximately 127 million) undergoes screening for this disorder. The estimated cost of detection by screening, $15,400 compares with a lifetime expense of $1,296,000 in developed countries. The annual cost of the 30,000 CH cases not identified and treated early is approximately $40 billion dollars. Increasing the coverage of newborn screening worldwide remains a significant public health challenge.