Fatty Acid oxidation disorders in a chinese population in taiwan

Fatty acid oxidation (FAO) disorders are a heterogeneous group of inborn errors in the transportation and oxidation of fatty acids. FAO disorders were thought to be very rare in the Chinese population. Newborn screening for FAO disorders beginning in 2002 in Taiwan may have increased the diagnosis of this group of diseases.

Till 2012, the National Taiwan University Hospital Newborn Screening Center screened more than 800,000 newborns for FAO disorders. Both patients diagnosed through screening and patients detected after clinical manifestations were included in this study.

A total of 48 patients with FAO disorders were identified during the study period. The disorders included carnitine palmitoyltransferase I deficiency, carnitine acylcarnitine translocase deficiency, carnitine palmitoyltransferase II deficiency, very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency, medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency, multiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency, short-chain defects, and carnitine uptake defect. Thirty-nine patients were diagnosed through newborn screening. Five false-negative newborn screening cases were noted during this period, and four patients who were not screened were diagnosed based on clinical manifestations. The ages of all patients ranged from 6 months to 22.9 years (mean age 6.6 years). Except for one case of postmortem diagnosis, there were no other mortalities.

The combined incidence of FAO disorders estimated by newborn screening in the Chinese population in Taiwan is 1 in 20,271 live births. Newborn screening also increases the awareness of FAO disorders and triggers clinical diagnoses of these diseases.