Earlier Diagnosis For Newborns Could Be Possible With New Research

In Washington, researchers used blood from a National Children’s Study biobank to identify more accurate reference intervals for various hormones and amino acids in newborns across a diverse population. The more defined reference intervals could help with earlier diagnosis of diseases like diabetes and pediatric cancer as well as lead to a better understanding of physical and neurological development. As we know, newborns are tiny and its often difficult to draw a significant amount of blood from them for testing, which has proven to be a challenge in the past for researchers to have enough blood to test and reference. The hope is with this research, doctors will have a more accurate reference interval to refer to when testing pediatric patients for developmental issues or diseases.