Screening for Cystic Fibrosis — Time to Change Our Position?

Cystic fibrosis is one of the most common inheritable diseases among white people, and without treatment most patients with this disease die in infancy or early childhood. The steadily increasing survival of patients with cystic fibrosis in countries in which specialized care is available indicates that treatment is effective.¹ Detecting the disease by screening, which might allow treatment to be initiated before irreversible damage has occurred, could further improve the outcome. In 1983 the Task Force on Neonatal Screening took a strong position against implementing neonatal screening for cystic fibrosis until more was known about the benefits and risks of . . .