Hale, Jaime EDarras, Basil T.Swoboda, Kathryn J.Estrella, EliciaChen, Jin Yun HelenAbbott, Mary-AliceHay, Beverly N.Kumar, BinodCounihan, Anne M.Gerstel-Thompson, Jacalyn L.Sahai, InderneelEaton, Roger B.Comeau, Anne Marie2022-08-232022-08-232021-05-232021-09-21<p>Hale JE, Darras BT, Swoboda KJ, Estrella E, Chen JYH, Abbott MA, Hay BN, Kumar B, Counihan AM, Gerstel-Thompson J, Sahai I, Eaton RB, Comeau AM. Massachusetts' Findings from Statewide Newborn Screening for Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Int J Neonatal Screen. 2021 May 23;7(2):26. doi: 10.3390/ijns7020026. PMID: 34071063; PMCID: PMC8162354. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijns7020026">Link to article on publisher's site</a></p>2409-515X (Linking)10.3390/ijns702002634071063https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/41937Massachusetts began newborn screening (NBS) for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) following the availability of new treatment options. The New England Newborn Screening Program developed, validated, and implemented a screening algorithm for the detection of SMA-affected infants who show absent SMN1 Exon 7 by Real-Time quantitative PCR (qPCR). We screened 179,467 neonates and identified 9 SMA-affected infants, all of whom were referred to a specialist by day of life 6 (average and median 4 days of life). Another ten SMN1 hybrids were observed but never referred. The nine referred infants who were confirmed to have SMA were entered into treatment protocols. Early data show that some SMA-affected children have remained asymptomatic and are meeting developmental milestones and some have mild to moderate delays. The Massachusetts experience demonstrates that SMA NBS is feasible, can be implemented on a population basis, and helps engage infants for early treatment to maximize benefit.en-USCopyright © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/SMN1 geneSMN2 geneSpinal Muscular Atrophynewborn screeningDiagnosisMaternal and Child HealthNervous System DiseasesPediatricsJournal Articlehttps://escholarship.umassmed.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5774&amp;context=oapubs&amp;unstamped=1https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/oapubs/474125048799oapubs/4741