Newborn Screening for Gaucher Disease: Parental Stress and Psychological Burden

In the last few decades, neonatal screening (NBS) has expanded to include lysosomal storage diseases, allowing for the early identification of both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases. However, neonatal diagnosis of late-onset disorders can cause parental stress and affect family well-being, possibly leading to overmedicalization. The impact of a positive NBS for Gaucher disease type 1 (GD1) can have an important impact on parental psychological well-being and psychosocial functioning. This study aims to study parental stress in parents of newborns who had a positive result for Gaucher disease in an NBS program in Northeastern Italy. Fourteen parents (7 fathers and 7 mothers) of seven children with confirmed GD1 (86% boys) completed the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF) at diagnosis (T0), 12 months (T1), and 36 months (T2). A control group of fourteen parents (7 fathers and 7 mothers) whose children had normal NBS results was included. Interviews were conducted for the GD1 group at T2 to investigate the usefulness of the NBS program. At T0, higher parental stress was assessed in GD1 parents compared to the healthy controls. Subsequently, the parents of GD1 children reported significant reductions in Parental Distress at T1 compared to T0. Mothers showed further reductions at T2, while the fathers' distress decreased but not significantly. GD1 mothers had significantly higher distress scores than the controls at T1, but this difference diminished over time. Our study highlights the psychological impact of NBS on GD1, emphasizing the need for better multidisciplinary communication to reduce parental stress throughout the diagnostic and treatment process.