Babies may be missing out on treatment for a common, brain-threatening condition and others receiving unnecessary treatment due to the wide use of a screening test known to be unsuitable.
Auckland researchers have now shown that a more accurate test is cheaper in the long run – delivering potential annual savings of $365,250 - despite greater up-front costs, and are calling for hospitals to make the switch.
The condition, known as neonatal hypoglycaemia or low blood sugars, affects one in six babies. Left untreated, it can cause developmental delay, brain damage and lowered education outcomes later in life. At-risk babies – up to a third of all born - are those born preterm, smaller or larger than usual, and babies whose mothers have diabetes.
Currently, many hospitals use heel-prick test strips to screen for low blood sugars. The test strips are cheaper per test than the alternative enzymatic test, and are readily available and familiar to medical staff because they are also widely used for monitoring diabetes. But since 1997 the World Health Organisation has stated that they are “unsuitable for diagnosing neonatal hypoglycaemia”, being designed to pick up high rather than low blood sugar levels.