Circulating cardiovascular biomarkers can accurately detect CHD in newborns: JAMA

Sweden: NT-proBNP assay using minimal DBS samples can help in accurate and timely detection of congenital heart disease (CHD) in newborns, suggests a recent study in the journal JAMA Network Open. This will aid in discriminating well between newborns with CHD and healthy newborns. 

CHD is the most common congenital malformation in humans affecting about 1 in 125 newborns, causing substantial mortality and morbidity rates worldwide. Circulating cardiovascular biomarkers could potentially improve the early detection of CHD, even in asymptomatic newborns. Keeping this in mind, Henning Clausen, University Teaching Hospital Ryhov, Jönköping, Sweden, and colleagues assessed the performance of dried blood spot (DBS) test for measuring e cardiovascular biomarker amino terminal fragment of the prohormone brain-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels in newborns. Further, they also compared DBS with standard EDTA analysis in control newborns during the first week of life.

The diagnostic study, conducted in southern Sweden, prospectively enrolled healthy, term neonates born between July 1, 2018, and May 31, 2019. They were compared against retrospectively identified newborns with CHD born between September 1, 2003, and September 30, 2019. It excluded neonates who required inpatient treatment beyond the standard postnatal care. They used the new DBS test for NT-proBNP quantification in newborns that used 3 μL of blood vs the current screening standard.