Late diagnosis and poor nutrition in cystic fibrosis diagnosed before implementation of newborn screening.

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Aim: Denmark has a high standard cystic fibrosis care. However, newborn screening was not implemented until 2016. This article describes the clinical status of cystic fibrosis patients at time of diagnosis prior to newborn screening.Methods: Patients diagnosed with cystic fibrosis in Denmark in 2010-2014 were reviewed using the Danish Cystic Fibrosis Registry as well as patient files. Parameters collected were age at diagnosis, gender, weight, height, forced expiratory volume at 1 second, cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator-genotype, lung bacteriology at diagnosis and previous diagnoses.Results: A total of 63 patients were diagnosed in the study period. The most typical pre-cystic fibrosis diagnoses were asthma and pneumonia. The median age at diagnosis was 1.4 years for the pancreatic insufficient and 27.3 years for the pancreatic sufficient patients. Of the pancreatic insufficient patients, 21% had moderate to severe malnutrition with BMI below minus 2 SD and 40% had moderate to severe stunting with height below minus 2 SD.Conclusion: Diagnosis was delayed considerably compared to diagnosis by newborn screening in other countries. Many cystic fibrosis patients diagnosed due to clinical symptoms were moderately to severely underweight or stunted at diagnosis.
Original languageEnglish
JournalActa Paediatrica
Volume108
Issue number12
Pages (from-to)2241-2245
Number of pages5
ISSN0803-5253
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • Faculty of Science - Cystic fibrosis, Danish healthcare system, Malnutrition, Newborn screening, Stunting

ID: 343340277