Identifying children at high somatic risk: possible long-term effects on the parents' relationship to the child.

The identification of alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency (ATD) by neonatal screening was hypothesized to have had negative long-term effects on the parents' relationship to the child. This hypothesis was tested by comparing selected aspects of the parent-child relationship in the families of 61 clinically healthy 5-7-year-old children with ATD versus the families of 61 control children without ATD. The data were collected by interviews with the parents in the home. In total, the evidence did not support the hypothesis of a negative effect on the parents' relationship to the child.