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Retrospective Review of Positive Newborn Screening Results for Isovaleric Acidemia and Development of a Strategy to Improve the Efficacy of Newborn Screening in the UK.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


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Authors

Hedgethorne, Katy 
Chakrapani, Anupam 
Hall, Patricia L 

Abstract

Since the UK commenced newborn screening for isovaleric acidemia in 2015, changes in prescribing have increased the incidence of false positive (FP) results due to pivaloylcarnitine. A review of screening results between 2015 and 2022 identified 24 true positive (TP) and 84 FP cases, with pivalate interference confirmed in 76/84. Initial C5 carnitine (C5C) did not discriminate between FP and TP with median (range) C5C of 2.9 (2.0-9.6) and 4.0 (1.8->70) µmol/L, respectively, and neither did Precision Newborn Screening via Collaborative Laboratory Integrated Reports (CLIR), which identified only 1/47 FP cases. However, among the TP cases, disease severity showed a correlation with initial C5C in 'asymptomatic' individuals (n = 17), demonstrating a median (range) C5C of 3.0 (1.8-7.1) whilst 'clinically affected' patients (n = 7), showed a median (range) C5C of 13.9 (7.7-70) µmol/L. These findings allowed the introduction of dual cut-off values into the screening algorithm to reduce the incidence of FPs, with initial C5C results ≥ 5 µmol/L triggering urgent referral, and those >2.0 and <5.0 µmol/L prompting second-tier C5-isobar testing. This will avoid delayed referral in babies at particular risk whilst reducing the FP rate for the remainder.

Description

Peer reviewed: True


Acknowledgements: We acknowledge all staff in UK newborn screening laboratories and the clinicians in Newborn Screening Clinical Centres in the NHS. We also acknowledge Piero Rinaldo for his help and support with CLIR.


Publication status: Published

Keywords

false positive, inherited metabolic disease, isovaleric acidemia, newborn screening

Journal Title

Int J Neonatal Screen

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2409-515X
2409-515X

Volume Title

10

Publisher

MDPI AG