Newborns who briefly showed borderline oxygen levels on a routine heart screen, then passed when retested, were more than five times as likely to be admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) as babies who passed the first time, according to a Finnish study published Oct. 21, 2026, in JAMA Network Open.
None of those babies turned out to have a critical congenital heart defect, which the screen is designed to catch. Instead, they had higher rates of treatable problems such as breathing disorders, early infection, and low blood sugar.
