2.4 Blood spot cards are used to answer questions about health problems
Researchers can use blood spot cards to answer questions about specific health problems.
For example, researchers exploring the reasons why a child develops leukaemia have used
the blood spots of individuals who have developed the condition in later childhood, to see if
the condition was present when these children were a week old.
Researchers have also used anonymised blood spots to identify how common certain
infections are among pregnant women, including rubella and other viruses such as Hepatitis
B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). The advantage of using the blood spot bank to
do this, is that cards are available for almost all babies, and these questions can therefore
be answered quickly and cheaply.
Researchers have also used blood spots to test for viral infections in children and to try and
answer questions about how these infections affect children’s long-term health. For
example, researchers have used blood spots to explore links between infections and
conditions such as leukaemia. Some research has been carried out to test stored blood
spots for environmental and chemical exposures, such as pesticides.
Stored blood spot cards have also been used to investigate genetic conditions. For example,
researchers have used anonymised blood spots to look for links between Sudden Infant
Death Syndrome (SIDS or ‘cot death’) and specific genetic variations. Other studies have
used blood spots from a large section of the population to try and identify any genetic causes
of conditions such as cerebral palsy, childhood leukaemia, and other cancers.
Research using blood spot cards, particularly genetic research, may result in the type of
information about individuals that insurance companies would be interested in. However,
access to this information by insurance companies is not currently permitted in the UK.
The value of stored blood spot cards for research about health increases considerably if
blood spot cards are stored beyond the initial 5 years required by the screening programme.
Q4a. Please consider the following statement and tick one of the 5 options below:
It is appropriate that blood spot cards can be used to answer questions about health
problems.
1. Strongly agree
2. Agree
3. Neither agree nor disagree
4. Disagree
5. Strongly disagree
Please give your reasons for your answer:
Q4b: Do you have other comments about the storage of blood spot cards, beyond the 5
years required by the screening programme, for research to answer questions about health
problems?
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