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Fatty Acid Oxidation Disorders in a Chinese Population in Taiwan

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JIMD Reports - Volume 11

Part of the book series: JIMD Reports ((JIMD,volume 11))

Abstract

Background: 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.

Materials and Methods: 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.

Results: 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.

Conclusions: 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.

Competing interests: None declared

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Abbreviations

CACT:

Carnitine acylcarnitine translocase

CPT I:

Carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1

CPT II:

Carnitine palmitoyltransferase 2

CUD:

Systemic carnitine uptake defect

FAO:

Fatty acid oxidation

LCHAD/mTFP:

Long-chain 3-hydroxy acyl-CoA dehydrogenase/mitochondrial trifunctional protein

MAD deficiency/GA II:

Multiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency/glutaric aciduria type II (synonym)

MCAD:

Medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase

MS/MS:

Tandem mass spectrometry

NBS:

Newborn screening

SCAD:

Short-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase

VLCAD:

Very-long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase

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Acknowledgment

We thank Dr. Nicola Longo from the University of Utah for performing the mutation analysis for patients of CPT I deficiency and CPT II deficiency. This study was partially support by grants (DOH94-HP-2203, DOH95-HP-2207) from the Department of Health, Taiwan.

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Correspondence to Wuh-Liang Hwu .

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Communicated by: Jerry Vockley

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Chien, YH. et al. (2013). Fatty Acid Oxidation Disorders in a Chinese Population in Taiwan. In: Zschocke, J., Gibson, K., Brown, G., Morava, E., Peters, V. (eds) JIMD Reports - Volume 11. JIMD Reports, vol 11. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/8904_2013_236

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/8904_2013_236

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