Prospective identification of congenital cytomegalovirus infection in newborns using real-time polymerase chain reaction assays in dried blood spots.

Background: Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a public health issue, and implementation of neonatal screening has been debated. Detection of CMV DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of dried blood spots (DBS) routinely collected for metabolic screening from all newborns has been proposed for congenital CMV infection screening. The goal of this study was to prospectively assess the performance of 2 CMV PCR assays of DBS for CMV neonatal screening in a selected population of neonates.

Apgar scores reported in personal child health records: validity for epidemiological studies?

Aim: In epidemiological studies on children, information in the neonatal period that might affect children's long-term health could be extracted from the personal child health record (PCHR), because the booklet exists in most countries. We aimed to assess, in individual children, the validity of Apgar scores reported in the PCHR using maternity medical records as the gold standard.

Methods: In two French hospitals, 435 women who had a child in January 2006 were recruited and 90% filled in a postal questionnaire 6 weeks after delivery, copying neonatal information (including Apgar scores) from the PCHR.

Perinatal factors reported by mothers: do they agree with medical records?

As perinatal events have been linked with diseases of later onset, epidemiological studies on child development and adult health require information on the perinatal period. When national neonatal registers do not exist, review of medical records may be impractical. However, neonatal information could be obtained by asking mothers to complete a postal questionnaire using data from the Personal Child Health Record (PCHR).