BACKGROUND: Newborn Screening (NBS) is a public health activity aimed at the early identification of infants who are affected by certain genetic/metabolic/infectious conditions. A cost analysis is critical for national implementation for integration as a public health program.

OBJECTIVES: 1) To determine the incidence rates of congenital hypothyroidism (CH), congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), galactosemia (GAL), phenylketonuria (PKU) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency; and 2) To determine whether NBS is cost-beneficial for each disorder individually or in combination, from a societal perspective.

STUDY DESIGN: Cross sectional survey and cost-benefit analysis.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study was conducted through a screening survey of the original 24 Metro Manila hospitals. Newborns were screened for CH, CAH, GAL, PKU and G6PD deficiency after the 24th hour of life. Those who screened positive underwent serum confirmatory testing. Using incidence rates from the screening survey, a population of 1.5 million, and different screening combinations, the costs for the detection and treatment of the five disorders were compared to the benefits projected from preventing the corresponding complications and consequent productivity losses. For economic evaluation, we compared sequential analysis of doing tandem/multiple testing for the different disorders vs a "do-nothing" alternative. Sensitivity analyses for different incidence and discount rates were conducted to test the strength of the conclusions.

RESULTS: The incidences of the disorders with 95% confidence intervals are: CH is 1:3 235 (1:2 219 - 1:5 946); CAH is 1:7 455 (1:4 046 - 1: 14245); GAL is 1: 106 006 (1: 44 218-1:266 796); and G6PD deficiency is 1:167 (1:151 - 1: 186). Screened individually, CH and G6PD deficiency had net benefits of US$ 5.29 M and US$ 15.44 M, respectively. The other conditions yielded net costs when screened individually - CAH (US$ 2.61 M), GAL (US$ 0.90 M) and PKU (US$ 6.74 M). Pairing the disorders with CH showed the following benefit:cost ratios - CH + CAH, 1.3; CH + GAL, 2.0; CH + G6PD deficiency, 3.4; and CH + PKU, 0.9. Combining disorders resulted in the following benefit:cost ratios - CH + CAH + GAL, 1.2; CH + CAH + GAL + PKU, 0.8; and CH + CAH + GAL + G6PD deficiency, 2.1. Screening for the 5 disorders in tandem resulted in a benefit:cost ratio of 1.4 and a net benefit of US$ 11.42 M.