Objective: To assess the effect of prenatal education about newborn sickle cell screening on parents' compliance with the follow-up for infants with sickle cell trait.
Subjects: Expectant mothers whose prenatal education included information about newborn sickle cell screening were the study group, and those whose prenatal education did not include such information were the control group.
Methods: Mothers of infants with sickle cell trait were given the opportunity for in-person notification of screening results and follow-up counseling/education. Follow-up rates, anxiety and retention of information were assessed for the case-control study.
Results: There were a total of 15,670 infants born in the region, and 647 infants were identified with sickle cell trait. The follow-up rate for parents of infants with sickle cell trait was significantly higher (76%) for study group than the control group (49%) (P = 0.0006). Parents whose prenatal education included sickle cell hemoglobinopathy information retained significantly more of the information given during the post-natal education than did controls.
Conclusion: Our data suggest that prenatal education for expectant mothers which includes information about newborn sickle cell screening significantly increases the follow-up rate for infants with sickle cell trait and contributes to a greater retention of information.