Italian study backs neonatal ECG screening:

In what supports the implementation of neonatal ECG screening programmes, an Italian study of over 21,000 newborns has found that an ECG performed in the first month of life identifies abnormalities associated with risk of cardiovascular disease and death. Neonatal ECG can also prompt early identification of still asymptomatic infants with cardiovascular malformations, thus allowing therapeutic interventions, including surgery, before the development of irreversible or serious cardiac damage, said the researchers, led by Marco Stramba-Badiale, of the IRCCS Instituto Auxologico Italiano, in Milan. The study was presented this month at the American Heart Association meeting, in New Orleans.