The Effects of False-positive Result in Newborn Congenital Hypothyroidism Screening to Parents in Guangxi, China

Background: As more than 200,000 neonates participate in newborn congenital hypothyroidism (CH) screening in Guangxi, China each year, the overall number of false positives has increased. The potential demographic impact on parental stress and knowledge of CH results has attracted many concerns. Methods: The parents of neonates with false-positive (FP) CH results were invited to participate in the FP group, and the parents of neonates with all negative results were invited to participate in the control group. After providing consent, the parents completed a questionnaire on demographic characteristics, knowledge of CH and the parental stress index (PSI) - short form (Chinese version). Results: As a result, there were 258 and 1040 parents participated in FP group and control group respectively. The parents in the FP group had better knowledge of CH and higher PSI scores than did the parents in the control group (both P < 0.001). The result of Logistic Regression showed that the major influence factors of knowledge of CH were FP experience and source of knowledge (both P P > 0.05). The parents in the FP group who were well-informed during the recall phone call had lower PSI scores than did the other parents (P = 0.001). The results suggested that FP screening results may affect parental stress and the parent-child relationships. Conclusion: FP results increased the stress on the parents, and increased their knowledge of CH passively. Targeted health education should be carried out to increase prospective parents’ knowledge of NBS and reduce parental stress when false-positive results are received.