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NEONATAL SCREENING IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE IN SAUDI ARABIA; A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Saud Hatem Aman*, Fawaz Faruqui , Muhammad Abdullah M Almalki, Manal Mutaib N Alanazi, Najd Khalid A Aljuaid, Albatool Ahmedsalahuddin S Alghamdi, Saqqar Abdulelah S Alanazi, Munera Abdallah Albalwi, Abdulmajeed Haddaj M Alruwaili, Abdullah Mansour Alharthi, Abdulmohsan Abdullah Aman

Background: Neonatal screening can help in the early detection of many disorders in neonates including congenital diseases; however, it still requires increasing efforts to make national protocols for the program especially in Saudi Arabia. Objective: This study aims at reviewing the literature to evaluate the neonatal screening in primary health care units in Saudi Arabia. Methods: The literature was reviewed through PubMed database in the duration between 2009 and 2019. Search terms included were a combination of Neonatal”, “screening” and “Saudi Arabia”. The results were then filtered to include original research articles neonatal screening in primary care units. Selected trials mentioned full details on the performed screening test and its type. Result: A total of 84 articles were retrieved. Following exclusion of articles on animals and including only trials on humans, 28 articles appeared. A total of six articles were considered as eligible, published between 2009 and 2019 covering a total of 105,074 neonate presented for neonatal screening. Conclusion: Neonatal screening test can decrease morbidity and mortality in this vulnerable population. The service needs to be applied all over Saudi Arabia, also awareness about the importance of neonatal screening among the Saudi population needs to be increased.

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