Cure SMA: More than Half of U.S. States Now Screening Newborns

• By Laurie Watanabe
• Jul 13, 2020

More than half of the states in the country now have permanent screening to check newborns for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), Cure SMA said.

In a July 13 social media post, Cure SMA noted that the push for newborn screening started in 2018. Currently, 26 states test newborns for SMA, the number-one genetic cause of death in infants worldwide.

The states currently screening for SMA are Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

For the remaining states and the District of Columbia, Cure SMA has created personalized letters that stakeholders can send to their state leaders and governors.

Cure SMA says SMA occurs about once in every 11,000 births, and that one in 50 Americans is a genetic carrier.