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Congenital CMV screening and parental awareness in the NICU

Abstract Summary

Background: One year ago Florida passed legislation for targeted CMV testing. We hypothesized CMV awareness in parents of children admitted to the NICU would be poor. Methods: All admissions at a level 3 NICU were sequentially reviewed for eligibility to participate in a prospective study for cCMV diagnosis in neonates. Parents of eligible subjects were approached and consented for participation. Reasons for non-participation were collected and analyzed. Three standard questions were used to address awareness of parents to CMV, and responses analyzed. For parents electing to participate, saliva specimens were collected to test for the presence of CMV. Results: 461 neonates were admitted to the NICU between March 1 2021 and March 31 2023. 248 (53.8%) were consented and enrolled; 54.1% in year one and 53.4% in year two. Non participation status was classified according to category. In both years being discharged prior to obtaining study consent and age > 21 days of life were the most common reasons for non-participation. Clinician-deemed inappropriate condition for participation (15.4% vs 5.3%) and parental decline for participation (9.4% vs 2%) were more common in year one. The most common reason for parental refusal was fear of research and not wanting extra testing on the child. Less than 5% of parents answered affirmatively to the questions below: 1- Have you heard of Cytomegalovirus infection? 2- Do you know that it can be transmitted from the mother to the baby during pregnancy? 3- Do you know that CMV is the leading infectious cause of congenital hearing loss in children? Conclusions: CMV awareness among parents of children in the NICU is poor. A small majority of patients enrolled in this study, and reasons were multi-factorial. The overall similarity of results preceding and immediately following enacted legislation demonstrates considerable opportunity exists for parental education on the topic of CMV.

Learning Objectives

• 1. To describe parental awareness towards universal CMV screening in central Florida prior to and immediately after targeted newborn CMV screening legislation
• 2. To describe a congenital CMV screening model in the NICU.
• 3. To examine reasons and barriers for an optional universal testing for congenital CMV in NICU setting.

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