This week, the National Cystic Fibrosis Day was celebrated in Spain, and the implantation of neonatal screening in all the Autonomous Communities and the creation of a national patient registry has been claimed again.
The good news is that the Ministry of Health of the Government of The Canary Islands will carry out in 2009 the neonatal screening for the early detection of cystic fibrosis to all newborns in the Community.
For this, a Protocol will be implemented that establishes the guidelines to be followed in this project and that includes an information campaign for both health professionals and fathers and mothers.
As we know, cystic fibrosis causes significant lung involvement, digestive manifestations, malnutrition and growth problems, so early diagnosis and treatment is important, as it improves the course of the disease and the quality of life of the affected children. . In addition, an early diagnosis can prolong the life expectancy of people with CF.
Therefore, now in Spain the diagnostic test for newborns is already carried out in the communities of Catalonia, Castilla-León, Baleares, Galicia, Extremadura, Madrid, Aragon, Murcia and the Canary Islands.
It is estimated that in Spain there are approximately 2,300 people with Cystic Fibrosis. It is the most frequent lethal genetic disease. An incidence in the different Autonomous Communities is estimated between 1/3000 and 1/5000 births, with one of every 25 people being healthy carriers of the disease.
In addition, according to a study published in 2007 by the scientific journal "The Lancet", the neonatal diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis, apart from improving the prognosis of patients, is profitable.
A group of British researchers analyzed the costs of implementing these tests nationwide and the results were overwhelming, the savings of early diagnosis of CF compensates for expenses above 70%, which for the authors indicates that they should Be adopted worldwide.
So we hope it's a matter of time that This test for early detection of cystic fibrosis is imposed throughout the national territory.
