Newborn screening for sickle cell diseases in the United States: A review of data spanning 2 decades

Abstract

Sickle cell disease is a group of disorders, the majority of which are detected through state newborn screening programs. There is limited knowledge of disease prevalence in the U.S.

Population: We report 20 years of case finding and laboratory data for sickle cell disease and trait to assist in: planning for health services delivery; providing data for researchers; aiding in tracking health outcome trends; and assessing sickle gene prevalence in the newborn population. During the 20-year period, there were 39,422 confirmed cases of sickle cell disease among 76,527,627 newborn births screened (1:1941) and 1,107,875 laboratory reports of probable sickle trait among 73,951,175 newborn births screened (1:67). The highest sickle cell disease incidence during the 20 years was in the District of Columbia (1:437) followed by Mississippi (1:683) and South Carolina (1:771). For sickle cell trait, the highest incidences were in the District of Columbia (1:22), Mississippi (1:26), and South Carolina (1:31).

Keywords: National data; Newborn screening; Sickle cell disease; Sickle cell trait.