@article {Koracine007780, author = {Vanesa Koracin and J Gerard Loeber and Matej Mlinaric and Tadej Battelino and James R Bonham and Urh Groselj}, editor = {, and , and Greaves, Ronda and Junek, Rosie and Zeyda, Maximilian and Boemer, Fran{\c c}ois and Liu, Zaiping and Sosova, Iveta and Skaricic, Ana and Zigman, Tamara and Nicolau, Alexia and Vogazianos, Marios and Chrastina, Petr and Blankenstein, Oliver and Lindner, Martin and Girginoudis, Panagiotis and Platis, Dimitrios and R{\'a}cz, G{\'a}bor Z and Szatm{\'a}ri, Ildik{\'o} and Devi, Radha Rama and Prashant, Akila and Ratnaningish, Tri and Fukushi, Masaru and Obiedat, Najah and Muliqqi Kotori, Vjosa and Al Rushood, May and Khneisser, Issam and Songailiene, Jurgita and Borde, Patricia and Brincat, Ian and Samardzic, Mira and Dekkers, Eugenie and Verschoof-Puite, Rendelien and Webster, Dianne and Anastasovska, Violeta and Majid, Hafsa and Abarquez, Conchita Gabayan and Vilarinho, Laura and Nanu, Michaela Iuliana and Moldovanu, Florentina and Almuaigl, Suhad and Knapkov{\'a}, M{\'a}ria and Groselj, Urh and Mlinaric, Matej and Battelino, Tadej and Cuk, Vanja and Drole Torkar, Ana and Perko, Dasa and Remec, Ziga Iztok and Repic Lampret, Barbka and Ulaga, Blanka and Zerjav Tansek, Mojca and Yahyaoui, Rachel and Hettiarachchi, Manjula and Zetterstr{\"o}m, Rolf H and Kao, Shu Min and Bonham, James R and Ferreira, Barbara and Gibson, James B and Luyen, Quoc Hai and Mai, Thu}, title = {Global impact of COVID-19 on newborn screening programmes}, volume = {7}, number = {3}, elocation-id = {e007780}, year = {2022}, doi = {10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007780}, publisher = {BMJ Specialist Journals}, abstract = {Introduction The global COVID-19 pandemic has presented extraordinary disruption to healthcare services and exposed them to numerous challenges. Newborn screening (NBS) programmes were also affected; however, scarce data exist on the impact of COVID-19 on NBS.Methods We conducted an international survey to assess the global impact of COVID-19 on NBS, with the main aim of gathering the experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic from a large and representative number of NBS centres worldwide.Results The results of our study showed that COVID-19 impacted the NBS programmes, at least partially, in 29 out of 38 responding countries. Majority of the screening centres experienced a broad spectrum of difficulties and most were affected more in the second wave of the pandemic. Delays and unreliability with the postal service as well as flight cancellations caused delays in samples arriving to screening centres and with the provision of laboratory equipment and reagents. The availability of laboratory staff was sometimes reduced due to infection, quarantine or reassignment within the healthcare facility. Sample collection at home, second-tier tests and follow-up were also affected. Social restrictions and interruptions in public transport added to these difficulties. Only a limited number of centres managed to retain a fully functioning NBS programme.Conclusion As the pandemic might continue or could recur in future years, it would be useful to develop guidelines to protect these valuable services.Data are available upon reasonable request.}, URL = {https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/3/e007780}, eprint = {https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/3/e007780.full.pdf}, journal = {BMJ Global Health} }