PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Abdulmajid M. Almawazini
AU  - Hamdi K. Hanafi
AU  - Hasan A. Madkhali
AU  - Noura B. Majrashi
TI  - Effectiveness of the critical congenital heart disease screening program for early diagnosis of cardiac abnormalities in newborn infants
AID  - 10.15537/smj.2017.10.20295
DP  - 2017 Oct 01
TA  - Saudi Medical Journal
PG  - 1019--1024
VI  - 38
IP  - 10
4099  - http://smj.org.sa/content/38/10/1019.short
4100  - http://smj.org.sa/content/38/10/1019.full
SO  - Saudi Med J2017 Oct 01; 38
AB  - Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) screening program for early diagnosis of cardiac anomalies in newborn infants.Methods: This is a hospital-based prospective cross-sectional study conducted in the Pediatric and Neonatology Department, King Fahad Hospital at Albaha, Saudi Arabia, between February 2016 and February 2017.Results: We screened 2961 (95.4%) of 3103 patients in a nursery unit; 142 (4.6%) patients were not screened. The test was positive in 114 (3.9%) patients and negative in 2847 (96.1%). There were 94 (3.2%) false positives and 20 (0.7%) true positives. Critical cardiac defects were diagnosed in 7 (0.2%) patients of all screened infants, and severe pulmonary hypertension was diagnosed in 13 (0.4%) patients. True negative results were found in 2841(96%) patients, and no cardiac defect was diagnosed, whereas false negative results were seen in 6 (0.2%) patients diagnosed with ventricular septal defect. The sensitivity was 77%, and the specificity was very high at 97%, with a positive predictive value of 18%, and a negative predictive value of 99.8% (95% confidence interval 13.78-19.18, p=0.0001).Conclusion: Pulse oximetry was found to be easy, safe, sensitive, and highly specific for diagnosis of CCHD.