Welcome to Early Check!
Here are some quick facts about Early Check.
Early Check is a research study for babies to get additional newborn screening tests. The goal is to find serious health conditions in babies so they can get help sooner. It is up to parents to decide whether to sign up their baby for Early Check.
- The screening tests are free.
- No appointments are needed for the Early Check screening tests.
- No new blood sample is needed. A blood sample is taken from all babies using a heel prick for standard newborn screening. Early Check uses the same sample to test for more conditions.
Parents who sign up learn more about their babies. They also help researchers and doctors understand the best ways to find serious health conditions in babies.
How do I sign up?
Parents can sign up online here before their baby is 4 weeks (31 days) old.
- Click “Next” below.
- Learn if your baby is eligible to join Early Check.
- Learn important things about Early Check testing.
- Choose groups of health conditions to be screened for your baby.
- Fill out the consent form.
Click "Next" to Learn More!
What does Early Check screen for?
Early Check offers screening for around 200 serious rare health conditions and also checks the risk for one fairly common condition.
To help you decide, we put these screening tests into three groups:
Group 1
Rare conditions that are treatable, meaning that early treatment can prevent the most serious symptoms.
Optional Group 2
Rare conditions that have potential treatments, meaning that treatments may not be able to prevent the most serious symptoms or that new treatments are still being studied.
Optional Group 3
Risk for Type 1 Diabetes, a common childhood disease that is treatable.
(Note: type 1 diabetes is not the same as type 2 diabetes, which is more common in adults.)
All babies who are signed up will be screened for Group 1 conditions. Parents can choose to add Group 2 and Group 3 if they wish. Some parents want these extra results, and some do not.
